Eclecticist

Rulers recognised as monarchs appear in recorded history as early as 757AD when Offa became the king of Mercia, the then principal kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England. Throughout the following 1200 years, Kings and Queens have inherited, usurped and returned to the top of the social order to establish a gnarly tree of competing dynasties. Today, the royal family is virtually a political institution able to deftly negotiate its holdings with the largely secular government and increasingly secular church. As the rest of the world maintains a keen fascination with the celebrity and colourful lives of the extended family, are they managing to stay relevant in the shrinking world of the modern era? Eclecticist.co.uk.