Laura Clancy
Search for other papers by Laura Clancy in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Postscript
The post-royals
Abstract only
Log-in for full text

This chapter draws together the various themes in this book. It does so by exploring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s emerging roles as ‘post-royals’, and how representations of the couple’s ‘post-royal life’ reveal ongoing tensions in the Firm. From the interrelations with commercialisation and corporate capital; the complexities of the media–monarchy relationship; associations with ‘the elites’; and notions of ‘value’, the chapter argues that Harry and Meghan’s exit from the Firm makes temporarily (and partly) visible the infrastructures, systems and processes through which monarchy is reproduced. That is, their exit disturbs the careful balance between visibility and invisibility in royal representations, and in so doing it threatens to rupture the ideologies that the monarchy relies upon. This moment of their exit holds the potential of being able to throw a more critical spotlight on relations that are usually kept masked.

The postscript then reviews the book as a whole by arguing that the case studies explored have shown how the British monarchy invites us to think about wider issues of class, power, inequality, media culture, wealth, capital(ism), ideology, democracy, warfare, national identity, citizenship, belonging, land, gender, race, (post)colonialism and (post)imperialism. It concludes by arguing that monarchy matters because we cannot talk about inequalities in Britain, historically and in the present, without talking about the monarchy.

  • Collapse
  • Expand

All of MUP's digital content including Open Access books and journals is now available on manchesterhive.

 

Running the Family Firm

How the monarchy manages its image and our money

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 646 255 12
Full Text Views 41 20 0
PDF Downloads 26 10 0