The Politics and Business of Monarchy

During a hectic two-week period in early 2013, those who follow the goings-on of monarchies around the world found themselves with news aplenty to pique their interest. On January 28, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands announced she was giving up the throne to make way for her forty-five-year old son to become the first Dutch king since 1890. Exactly one week later, archaeologists at Britain’s University of Leicester confirmed through DNA testing that a skeleton located in the ruins of Greyfriars Church below a “car park” in that city belonged to King Richard III. In 1485, he was the last English king to die in battle, and his body was thought to have been irretrievably lost. Finally, on February 11, Pope Benedict XVI announced his resignation after eight years as pontiff.The pope is ruler of the Catholic Church, and Vatican City is considered a monarchy, so his decision was as much an abdication as “Queen Bea’s” two weeks before. Worldwide, each event spurred conversations about royalty, rulers, and renewal—and they also provide an excellent starting point from which to pose the question: in contemporary global society, why are monarchies still so compelling to millions of people around the world?