Real value of royals is their celebrity cachet

Re: The summer of Meghan Markle and all the tired ways we talk about royal women (Aug 10) The only way royalty really makes sense in today’s world is to turn them into celebrities.

We definitely live in a shallow celebrity age where people are famous for just being famous. Watchers live through their celebrities just as sports fans idolize their sports heroes who make millions (funded often by the fans). Duty and loyalty are no longer important — it’s now all about the glitz, glamour, and schmaltz.

Someone once said, in commenting on the state of monarchy in the world, that in the future there will only be five queens: the Queen of Clubs, the Queen of Spades, the Queen of Hearts, the Queen of Diamonds, and the Queen of England. Queen Elizabeth will definitely be the last true Queen, void of all the Hollywood, showbiz glitz and phoney glamour.

The irony is that in the old days, the people were subjects to Queens and Kings not by choice; today the monarchy still holds court over the average person, because people have become subjects by choice. People often worship and adore what they are lacking in their lives. It’s the royal conundrum.

Douglas Cornish, Ottawa