I have always enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of European monarchies. I think the traditions and history are interesting.
I agree. It adds to the decor of a country. I recall reading an account of the funeral of England’s King Edward VII. It included a glittering cortege of kings, emperors, sultans, etc. Even plain old French and American delegates were sort of elegant in their plainness amid all that tinsel.
Think how the opening ceremonies of the Sochi Olympics would have been adorned by, let’s say, the Tsar of All the Russias and the Tsarina prancing into the amphitheater on bejeweled white horses, or perhaps better yet in a gilded carriage drawn by a dozen or so of same, with “God Save the Tsar” playing.
And too, imagine how monarchs could add to the economies of their various countries by quite frankly selling titles, with the proceeds, lets say, going to charity. The price list could be widely published so that, for example, “Count of Transylvania” could be priced at millions while a mere knighthood could perhaps go for a few thousand. Even the commoner title “squire” might draw a few hundred.
Besides, it is a conceit of the rich and famous in America anyway to claim descent from some nobleman or other, usually by some circuitous genetic route. Why not just make it easy and let them buy a Baronetcy outright for, oh, let’s say $50,000? An Earldom, one would think ought to draw a half million at least. No, let’s make that an even million. Earls are a big deal.
I have long thought poverty-stricken Romania, for example, could confer titles of royalty on anyone who would spend at least a month at a Black Sea palatial resort, being waited on by a crowd of whatever they call yeomen and wenches in Romania, with the titled person paying their salaries in advance, of course. The servitors would probably bow and tug their forelocks for perhaps a little extra.
Now, the less pecunious could perhaps be sold an honorary military rank, with a lavish European uniform to go with it. They used to do that in various states for a suitable contribution to a successful governor’s campaign. I’ll grant that the scarlet uniform of a 19th Century British colonol of cavalry would make a French cuirassier captain’s uniform look a little over the top, but still, that horsehair plume and chest plate has a certain panache to it if one carried them well and wasn’t too old. What? $1,000, maybe $2,000? Before Missouri prohibited it, an honorary colonelcy in the Missouri State Guard cost about $1,000, so people will pay for such things. The uniform was extra, of course.
Think of how all of that would dress up a party.
And think of the good it could do for the less privileged.
