Why are we so excited about royal weddings?

For comparison, it is worth saying that the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup gathered about 900 million viewers at the screens. The record seemed unattainable and unique, but did not last even a year. The most dramatic sports battles and spectacular shows, as it turned out, attract us less than the magnificent wedding ceremonies of people who are absolutely far from us, devoid of sports intrigue.

“It was very beautiful,” recalls 26-year-old Anna. “I could not tear myself away from the computer, as if watching a fairy tale live.” “At that moment, I really needed to see at least something beautiful in this hopeless life,” admits 41-year-old Nina. “I watched the broadcast with my 13-year-old daughter,” says 35-year-old Marina. “And I felt that history was being born before our eyes, I almost physically felt our involvement in it.” “Everything was calculated in seconds, like in an excellent ballet performance – no failures, no delays! It’s so nice to see that order and harmony are possible not only on the stage,” admires 36-year-old Olga. What can I say, we ourselves in the editorial office of Psychologies, having forgotten work for some time, also clung to the monitors. In a word, everyone found their own important reasons to watch royal weddings. And yet, according to our experts, all of us, the audience, were united by something in common.

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collective emotions

“Feeling one’s connection with other people is one of the main human needs,” reflects Jungian analyst Tatyana Rebeko. “We need to share our experiences, to know that others feel the same as we do. That is why collective, shared emotions are so important.” And, perhaps, positive emotions are doubly important – after all, much more often we are united by experiences caused by tragic events: natural disasters, terrorist attacks, political and economic crises. We unconsciously look for experiences that would allow us to feel our unity with other people. And royal weddings are a great opportunity to feel it, forgetting about personal problems for a while.

Tatyana Rebeko recalls that collective emotions arise when we turn to universal unconditional values. For example, for the fans of one team, such an unconditional value is its victory. A wedding, on the other hand, belongs to universal, universal values, and, therefore, the number of its “fans” is, by definition, higher than that of the most famous team.

Royalty

The psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung thought for the first time that there are emotional reactions and stereotypes of perception and behavior common to all people. This collective unconscious manifests itself in the form of archetypes, symbols and generalized images of the experience of our common ancestors. They have existed since ancient times and therefore have a huge impact on us. A wedding is one of those archetypes. It symbolizes the integrity of the world, the harmony of male and female principles – the ideal that each of us aspires to. “Of course, we understand the imperfection of any married couple, we recognize the unattainability of complete harmony,” agrees Tatyana Rebeko. “But the wedding of crowned persons acquires the power of precisely an archetypal experience, in which private adversities are lost, and the meaning of the union – the “union of opposites” – becomes the main one.”

It is very important here that we are talking about crowned persons. Only a royal wedding can collect two billion viewers from the screens. For centuries, kings have been referred to as “God’s anointed”, or even traced their lineage directly from the celestials. In medieval England, for example, it was believed that some diseases could not be cured by any doctor – only the touch of the hand of a gracious monarch could heal them. And the emperor of Japan, only after the defeat in World War II, was forced to officially admit that he was not a direct descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu. Of course, today few people seriously believe in the divine origin and supernatural powers of kings. But the archetype of the king as the bearer of supreme power is unlikely to have had time to “erode” from the collective unconscious over the past 150-200 years. That is why we, without suspecting it, attribute the features of a symbolic union of higher powers to royal weddings. And we continue to connect with them hopes for the highest harmony in the world.

The magic of youth

This is the time to note that the conversation is still not entirely about royal weddings – after all, in 2011 the princes got married (even if one of them, Albert II, is the reigning monarch). However, this circumstance only adds to their wedding attractiveness. Here is what the Jungian analyst Lev Khegay says about this: “Kings also serve as archetypal parental figures – the “fathers” of their subjects. And their influence – like that of a father in the family – is not necessarily only positive. Princes are deprived of this shortcoming. They are relieved of responsibility and free for creativity, heroic deeds, for searching for themselves and their love. Besides, princes and princesses are young in our minds. And youth remains the cherished desire of man.

It’s hard to disagree with this. Today, science and medicine seem to be closer than ever to realizing the dream of eternal youth. Women and after 50 years are able to look amazing, and men – to live a rich, active life. Yes, and all the other components of the image of the prince – and the desire for creativity, and the search for love, and even the lack of responsibility, unfortunately – are also in tune with the mood of today. Is it any wonder that the weddings of archetypal bearers of all these traits arouse such interest?

Cinderella era

Finally, let’s not forget one more important detail. Neither Kate Middleton nor Charlene Wittstock, the chosen one of the Prince of Monaco, belong to the family aristocracy. They were not born princesses, but became them. And so, the happy stories of their marriage inevitably remind us of another important archetype, known as the “Cinderella archetype.” “It is easier for us to love those with whom we identify ourselves more easily,” explains Lev Khegay. “And since most of us aren’t royalty, the Cinderella story is bound to be a success. A simple girl who has achieved happiness, wealth and recognition is an ideal, a role model. At one time, Princess Diana became such an ideal, even despite the fact that she came from a noble count family.

But if faith in royal omnipotence is gradually fading, then the charm of the myth of Cinderella is only gaining strength. “Analyzing the reasons for the popularity of royal weddings in 2011, one can really talk about the possibility of acquiring royal dignity thanks to personal virtues,” confirms Tatyana Rebeko. “This is especially true for our era with its bourgeois values, the importance and significance of one’s own deed.”

If you choose princes for your wife, real princesses like themselves, the interest of the public might not be so hot. No, being a young and beautiful royal daughter is certainly wonderful. Preening in front of a mirror is also a wonderful thing. But doing just that, sighing at the window, waiting for the prince on a white horse, seems a bit boring these days. It is amusing to note that the writers of fairy tales have also felt this trend. The beautiful Rapunzel from the recent Disney cartoon embarks on a dangerous adventure, giving her heart, and at the same time the crown, to a clever thief. And Princess Fiona from the animated epic about Shrek prefers to turn into an ogre. Fairy tales are an important “guide” of archetypes into our lives, so who knows how the images of royalty will change in the collective unconscious in, say, five hundred years? But I really want to believe that the archetype of the wedding will not undergo any changes. Because happiness, harmony and love remain the highest values. This is what remains to be wished – both to their highnesses with happy chosen ones, and to you and me too.

Messages from childhood

The events of royal life are also important for us because they evoke memories, returning to childhood: after all, princes and princesses have always been the main characters in the children’s imaginary world. At the age of five, all (or almost all) girls dream of becoming princesses, and the image of a prince defeating evil enemies plays an important role in the formation of the personality of any boy. Heroes and heroines of fairy tales become a kind of “ideal self” for the child, allowing him to feel strong, independent and invulnerable. The American psychoanalyst Bruno Bettelheim argued that fairy tales contribute to the growing up of a child and help him overcome his fears, because in fairy tales lost children always find their parents, evil is defeated, and the main characters find happiness *. As for the wedding of the prince and princess in the finale, it also carries a very clear message – the hope that the child’s dreams will one day come true: if, of course, he will be able to overcome all obstacles and overcome his own weaknesses.

* B. Bettelheim «The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales» (Vintage, 1989).