Young Writers Society

So I’m writing a modern adaption of Hamlet, with a modern-day setting. The toughest part so far is writing about a realistic modern royal family. I’ve taken lots of inspiration from the British Royal family of course, but there’s a lot of info I can’t find.

For example, how are members of the royal family kept in line? Obviously they don’t have a ton of freedom in their position and are managed by a whole bunch of people, I’m sure. But what would be stopping an angry, gay, depressed 19-yr-old from rebelling in terms of clothes and ditching events and posting things on the internet that haven’t been approved by his publicist. What kinds of consequences would there be?

Another thing is in the end Hamlet is not going to die but instead, as the last living member of the royal family, end the tradition of royals (which have existed alongside the prime minister and real govt). How would he go about that? Does he even have that power? Who DOES have the power?

Also, do members of the royal family have body guards with them all the time in public? And in general, how much freedom do they have?

I know these are kind of weird and specific questions, but nay help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Nymeria

Well, in truth, it entirely depends on how you want your RF (Royal Family) to look.

The Dragonhearts are the primary RFs I use in fiction, and they are meant to be RPs (Royal Pains). They say what they want, do what they want, and act like a dysfunctional family with anywhere from 50 to 10,000-ish living members at any given time. I do my best to include at least a few newspaper articles or live news segments to just show some RG (Royal Gossip) and throw in a scandal or ten every now and again.

You, however, are asking for a more traditional RF. You could say he'd be executed or imprisoned for not following orders. Quote Marlene Koenig, an expert of the British royals, "It would take legislation, an act of Parliament, and signed by the Sovereign to end the monarchy."

Alternatively, he could just say "Bye bye, nation, nice knowin' ya!" and leave. Or, the people could hold a referendum. Or... anything, really.

My knowledge of royals is very much limited to the British monarchy, but every so often we have scandals that come out about certain members.
When Prince Harry was younger, there were some photos that circulated around of him, and now we have a big issue with Prince Andrew.

For Harry, my understanding is that most of it was passed off as 'youthful indiscretions' and swept under the carpet. The media gets a kick out of it for a few days, the royal in question is kept out of the limelight until things die down. But you could have your royal family paying off people to keep quiet? I mean, we never truly know what goes on behind closed doors!

For Prince Andrew the issue is a whole lot bigger and he's stepped down from all of his royal duties. So two different routes you could take there.

Also, I agree with Vil on the point above about getting rid of the royals - here at least it would need to be instigated by parliament.

As for bodyguards, it depends on how prominent a member of the royal family a person is, but the ones in line to the throne definitely travel with an entourage!

Hope some of this was helpful!

(Also, if you have the ability to watch The Crown on Netflix, that's quite a good insight into life as a Royal).