An ideal British family?

The surname of the royal family is Windsor. This might sound very British, but the royal family´s ancestors were German. The Queen´s great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria (1819 – 1910), was born in Britain, but her mother and her husband were both German. When Queen Victoria got married, she became a Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

The British royal family continued with this surname until the First World War (1914 – 1918) when King George V (1865 – 1936) decided to take a more English-sounding name. He chose Windsor, which is the name of one of the royal castles.

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (now known as the Queen Mother) became very popular with the British people during the Second World War (1939 – 1945). They stayed in London, even though their home, Buckingham Palace, was bombed.

In 1953, millions of people watched Queen Elizabeth II´s coronation on television and thought of her, her husband and their first two little children as an ideal British family. This image of royal family did not last.

Recent problems for members of the royal family have had a great effect on their popularity. Three of the Queen´s children have divorced. The Queen´s youngest son, Edward, waited until he was 35 to get married, because he wanted to make sure his marriage would work. Newspapers and magazines publish information and photographs of the private lives of the royal family.

Royal scandals are not a twentieth-century invention. King George IV (1762 – 1830) was criticised for his mistresses, overeating, drinking and gambling. Another king, Edward VII (1841 – 1910), openly kept a number of mistresses and was involved in a gambling scandal.

The present royal family is criticised, because it does not seem to show emotions easily, especially when Diana, Princess of Wales, died suddenly in a car crash in 1997. British people show less respect for the royal family: most still want a monarchy, but expect the royal family to modernise, earn its money and set an example.

a  Do you think a royal family should set an example?

b  Look at the caricatures of the present royal family and King George IV in 1792. Should the media show the royal family in this way?

c  Does your country have a monarchy? If not, would you like to have a monarchy?

d  Do you think the idea of a monarchy is out of date?

Michael Vaughan-Rees, Geraldine Sweeney, Picot Cassidy: In Britain. 21st Century Edition, Cornelsen Verlag, 2000, page 17