Why Americans Love the Fantasy of Royalty

It’s one of history’s little ironies: Americans broke away from monarchy, yet centuries later, we can’t seem to get enough of it. We watch royal weddings at dawn, devour documentaries about palace life, and follow every bit of royal intrigue like it’s our own family drama. Why?

At its heart, it’s the romance of it all. Castles at sunset, sweeping gowns, processions that look like they belong in a storybook—royalty feels like stepping into another world. A world where love can be grand, destiny is written in bloodlines, and a single kiss on a balcony can symbolize hope for millions.

But why do we crave that kind of romance? Because ordinary life doesn’t often give us pageantry. Most love stories unfold in kitchens and carpools, not in palaces with orchestras playing. The daily grind rarely feels magical, and so we look outward—to royalty—for a taste of that grandeur.

We also crave it because it connnects to something deep and primal in us: the desire to believe in fairy tales. From childhood, we’re told stories of princes and princesses, of love conquering all. Royalty feels like the living embodiment of those myths, as if the fantasy world of our bedtime stories never fully disappeared.

Even their struggles—star-crossed lovers, scandals, sacrifices—have an operatic quality. Their heartbreaks and triumphs seem larger than life, and that scale makes our own emotions feel reflected, even validated.

In the end, royalty offers us a safe, glittering escape. It reminds us that maybe life can still hold beauty, magic, and romance—things we never outgrow the hunger for, no matter how grown-up we claim to be.