I’ve been reflecting on being queenly lately.
I’ll ‘fess up. Like most everyone I know, I caught a nasty bug that drove me to bed, giving me a chance to guilty-pleasure-binge on Phillippa Gregory’s novels brought to TV, BBC miniseries-style.
Gregory’s historical fiction involves witchy queens who are often brilliantly strategic. Usually, the queens (or queen-wanna-bees) can give porn-stars a run for their money. After all, the queen’s ascension and power depends on her sexual prowess as much as anything else.
Once my flu-haze lifted, a Huffington Post article caught my eye because it mentions women being treated “like queens.”
A Saudi Arabian historian, speaking to his nation’s ban on female drivers, says women who drive in other countries such as the United States don’t care if they’re raped and that sexual violence “is no big deal to them.” Instead, in Saudi Arabia (a place I once resided), women are treated like queens. Case in point, he says, women are driven around by the men of the family or male chauffeurs.
Before exclaiming outrage, let’s look at how we in the West might be getting “queen” royally wrong too.
How (Some) Americans Think-Like-A-Queen
Reading Katy McLaughlin’s Wall Street Journal article, “ Princess Bedrooms That Rule ,” made me so queasy I thought my bug was back:
Some companies say that when it comes to princess décor, Marie Antoinette-level pricing works best. Rooms can cost $100,000 and up, with furnishings like a $35,000 carriage bed.”
An example McLaughlin cites, “When their new $70,000 princess-themed playroom is finished in March, Stella, 4 years old, and Presley, 2½, will have a faux gem-encrusted performance stage, a treehouse loft, and a mini-French cafe. A $20,000 custom carpet with colorful pathways will lead the girls to the various play areas.”
Marie Antoinette is the queenly role-model for American girls? History suggests that this won’t end well.
Queen of Versailles
In case you missed it, Director Laura Greenfield’s award-winning 2012 documentary, Queen of Versailles , is a must-see. It gives us a peak into American queenly living. The acclaimed film is about the Siegels, a billionaire couple who are building the *largest single-family detached—4 th most expensive house—in the U.S. ever.
Like the proverbial train-wreck we cannot turn away from, we watch Jackie Siegel and her husband David, (who’s 30-years her senior), struggle in aftermath of the 2008 economic downtown. Money troubles, marriage issues, and where to store the warehouse-full of Christmas presents for the children… The film’s hook? What to do about the construction of the Siegel’s 90,000 square foot mansion which is modeled after the
Palace of Versailles
. (Spoiler alert: Lay off employees to save money.)
Don’t worry about Jackie, the Siegel’s Versailles is on track for completion in 2016. In the United States, the rich have bounced back and gotten richer following the Great Recession . According to a truckload of data, “the bottom 99 percent of Americans’ incomes have fallen by 0.4 percent since the recovery began in 2009, the top one percent’s incomes have risen by 11.2 percent.”
As Jackie says , “Things have totally turned around. Things are even better than before.”
7 Think-Like-a-Queen Quotes
Author Louisa May Alcott wrote, “Women have been called queens for a long time, but the kingdom given them isn’t worth ruling.” Could Alcott be right? For all my queenly reflections (and an embarrassing 8 hours of miniseries watching), I still feel confused. What does “think like a queen” really mean?
Queenly Happiness. “To be kind to all, to like many and love a few, to be needed and wanted by those we love, is certainly the nearest we can come to happiness.” –Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots
Queenly Wisdom.
“Fools are more to be feared than the wicked.” –Christina, Queen of Sweden
Queenly Mindset. “We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They do not exist.”–Victoria, Queen of United Kingdom & Ireland and, “I will not be triumphed over.” Cleopatra, Egyptian Queen
Queenly Work Ethic. “Your work is the rent you pay for the room you occupy on earth.”-Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (U.K.)
Queenly Humility. “Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom.”-Elizabeth, Queen of England
Queenly Drive. “It is necessary to try to surpass one’s self always; this occupation ought to last a lifetime.”-Christina, Queen of Sweden
Queenly Insight. “I’ve seen it around the world, in the poorest countries and in countries riven with conflict… It’s women who can contribute to achieving real security—not bombs.” –Noor, Queen of Jordan
Ah, I get it. Being queenly doesn’t necessarily mean accumulating the most stuff. In fact, thinking like a queen seems pretty marvelous to me.
*Aerial Photograph by Orlando Sentinel/Polaris via Bloomberg.com , Versailles the Would Be Biggest House in America.
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