I had to ruminate on this a bit, and I wonder if it's also something you have to grow up with -- as in, even if you grew up with a royal family, do you only connect to that one myth, and aren't quite so taken-in by other royals? I'm thinking of the political hot potato when Europeans met with the Qing emperor. Those men definitely grew up with royal myths in their home countries, yet they were dismissive enough (for various reasons, racism being part of that) that they didn't see why they must bend their knees (let alone prostrate themselves) before the emperor. I recall reading contemporary comments that to do so was like offering their loyalty, and they wouldn't go that far, while the Qing court expected nothing less, seeing how this was the son of heaven, etc.
So perhaps it's not just a living relationship, but also a kind of possessiveness -- this is my Queen -- and not just 'any' Queen. Which means that the characters from different cultures would react differently. I can see the outsider being somewhat blase about meeting the Emperor, given the outsider is himself the youngest sibling of a Queen. And concurrently, I wonder if the Emperor's subjects, upon meeting that Queen, would be quite so starry-eyed about her personage as her own born-and-raised citizens, since they haven't had a lifetime of believing the mythic aspects of the Queen. Hmmm.
As an aside, I found it interesting that Martel seemed to call out Lady Diana as an example of someone who actively engaged with that myth, more than Kate Middleton has done. Of course, this engagement also seems to be what made Diana so miserable, but from an outsider's perspective, it did seem like Diana threw all of herself into being that myth as fully as she could. Like she felt it was a great responsibility; Middleton, in contrast, seems to be very workmanlike about her new role as wife/mother-to-be. I suspect that means Middleton's going to be able to handle (I hope) the rigors with a lot less angst and tragedy than Diana, but it also makes for a significantly less interesting future Queen. Like you can see her clocking out at the end of the day and not giving another thought to matters, but that could just be me (and like I said, it is a saner way to approach what amounts to living in a big honking glittering paparazzi cage).
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So perhaps it's not just a living relationship, but also a kind of possessiveness -- this is my Queen -- and not just 'any' Queen. Which means that the characters from different cultures would react differently. I can see the outsider being somewhat blase about meeting the Emperor, given the outsider is himself the youngest sibling of a Queen. And concurrently, I wonder if the Emperor's subjects, upon meeting that Queen, would be quite so starry-eyed about her personage as her own born-and-raised citizens, since they haven't had a lifetime of believing the mythic aspects of the Queen. Hmmm.
As an aside, I found it interesting that Martel seemed to call out Lady Diana as an example of someone who actively engaged with that myth, more than Kate Middleton has done. Of course, this engagement also seems to be what made Diana so miserable, but from an outsider's perspective, it did seem like Diana threw all of herself into being that myth as fully as she could. Like she felt it was a great responsibility; Middleton, in contrast, seems to be very workmanlike about her new role as wife/mother-to-be. I suspect that means Middleton's going to be able to handle (I hope) the rigors with a lot less angst and tragedy than Diana, but it also makes for a significantly less interesting future Queen. Like you can see her clocking out at the end of the day and not giving another thought to matters, but that could just be me (and like I said, it is a saner way to approach what amounts to living in a big honking glittering paparazzi cage).