A Show for Royals Fans: Kansas City Tales

I like the Royals despite their dismal record, but I’m not a fan of the House of Windsor and their hierarchy of supporting noble families.

Many Americans enjoy the glamour and mystique of the Royal Family, headed by HRH Elizabeth II. The family creates a great deal of media capital and the noble families in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales possess immense wealth and own the majority of land in the Isles we call British. Do a bit of research on the Duke of Westminster, for example. Or visit the website for Althorp Estate.

It’s “Althorp”, a place as well as a "trust" (another name for a corporation) that’s sending Kansas City the “Diana, a Celebration” collection for display and viewing at $23 a ticket to Union Station via “Arts and Exhibitions LLC” and the Spenser Family. This is not a yard sale, but rather a permanent collection of relics reminiscent of medieval roadshow pilgrimage like Canterbury Tales when folks set out from London to view Thomas Becket’s bones. In this case, the relics come to us. A modern travelling-circus-variation of Chaucer’s yarn.

For the “royalty-starved” (a term shared by my friend Mel recently), the Diana collection should help elevate that recession-induced worry of doom and gloom. There is indeed wealth and glamour out there. There’s a chance we can be a princess or a prince. Masterpiece Theatre could come true. If we work hard, and if we’re pretty, we too could secure an “Althorp” of our very own.

But those commoners, those wild colonial boys at Concord Bridge, those rough rugged lowly farm people will be very confused and disappointed though…

So, if you like, oh common colonial cousin, pay your fee, see the show, dream…on. But remember the French who helped us create this collection of States, this imperfect exciting Union at a place called Yorktown…a fitting pilgrimage destination that may transfrom that royal-loving heart of yours.