ABSTRACT
Judith Williamson starts her essay on the Royal Family with the statement that ‘the key to the great significance and popularity of Royalty is that they are at once like us, and not like us’ (1987, p.75). It is a mystery to be puzzled over: the Princess held the baby just like a normal person, said the mother in the last chapter, as if it were remarkable. According to Williamson, the institution of ‘the family’ is the key, for it provides ‘the central structure of identification which allows us to feel they are like us’ (p. 75). The Princess didn’t just hold the baby like a normal person-she did so like a normal woman, a normal mother. As Walter Bagehot predicted, having a family on the throne reduces majesty to the level of petty life.
