The coronation of Charles III in London brings us back to our relationship with the monarchy. Do we still have an interest in all forms of royalty in France? The days of the stars are over, but some monarchs still thrill the crowds.
OUR Social issue of this Saturday is necessarily linked to the news in our British neighbours: the coronation of Charles. There are still about forty sovereigns in the world, enough to fuel the reflection of sociologist Jean Viard.
franceinfo: What do these kings and queens represent in our societies?
John Viard: Not necessarily the same everywhere, but what is certain is that in England, there is a very special function for the sovereign, because he receives the British Prime Minister every week, which is not done in the Belgian monarchy, for example. The new king is therefore very much in dialogue with power. Otherwise, it is a collective totem. I think every society needs to have a totem. She has a territory with borders, she often has one language, sometimes several, and therefore a totem which symbolizes her unity. Let us remember the role of the King of Spain at the time of the coup attempt, that of the King of the Belgians in the confrontation between Flemings and Walloons
Germany and Italy, likewise, have presidents who are symbolic forces and who distribute some values from time to time, who can call their government to order. In France, we have a very specific model because we have a president who also exercises power.
France has not been ruled by a king since 1870. However, there is a form of fascination with us for kings and queens. How to explain it?
I think that on the one hand we have a nostalgia for the monarchy and on the other hand kings and queens belong to the kingdom of… stars! Some have been magnificent figures. Look at the Princess of Monaco, she was a star. The stars, at a certain time, we were interested in their bodies, their loves, their properties. But today, the cinema has changed a lot and the very big stars of the 50s until those of the end of the XXᵉ century no longer exist. The cult we had for Brigitte Bardot or for others has disappeared. There are now so many TV channels that communication is no longer so centralized. The stars are different, and this is also true for the kings who are, basically, characters in a corner of the landscape without the same importance as in the past.
At the same time, are we today in a kind of rejection of the richest, singled out for their environmental excesses and their disconnection from the realities of everyday life?
It’s not quite the same, because most of the richest people today are people who got rich themselves. They are no longer heirs, and when there are some left, some are lamentable. This is not the case in England, because the heritage there is essentially land, with castles and because these are people who spend their time doing good. They go to see the widow and the orphan, they fight for ecological causes. They have a relationship with society that is linked to empathy and suffering, which is a priori something rather sympathetic, and which means that we always appreciate them.