Ever wonder which side you would be on in 1775? It has been estimated that only 30% of Americans at the time wanted an independent nation. The remaining majority were loyalists or probably just apathetic. Unless I got swept up in revolution mania, my sense is that I wouldn’t want to my country turned into a battlefield. God Save King George III!
Despite the resulting revolutionary trauma, Americans developed a fondness for British culture and monarchy over the centuries. Queen Elizabeth gained our admiration and sympathy at times during her family turmoils. Divorces, infidelities, squabbles, and the untimely death of Princess Diana made the royal family a living soap opera. Just when she thought her family troubles would dissipate with age, Elizabeth’s son Prince Andrew got caught with his pants down in the Jeffry Epstein scandals. The poor queen couldn’t catch a break, even in her nineties. Then she died.
Among the heirs to her throne is the granddaughter of randy Prince Andy: Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi. Next week, Sienna will be 1-year-old and #10 in the line of succession, after her mother Princess Beatrice and grandfather Prince Andrew. Unlike her cousins in the King Charles line, Sienna does not have a British title. Instead, she carries an Italian title from her father’s side: Nobile Donna (Noble Lady). You see, her father Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi is an Italian Count with an ancestral villa in Bergamo, northern Italy (below).
When Beatrice married Edoardo in 2020 she became an Italian countess. Their children become “nobles”, slightly less than a barone or baronessa. Even if Sienna never becomes the Queen of England, she stands to inherit some fancy digs in Italy.
Was it a mistake for the Italians to dump their monarchy after the war? The vote was close. Granted, carrying a king, queen and royal family is a huge expense, but there is something to be said for the emotional ties and continuity. Before the war, most Italian families hung portraits of Mussolini and King Victor Emanuele in their homes, maybe alongside the Pope’s. My Italian grandparents had passports issued by the “Kingdom of Italy”, and their applications for American citizenship included a line about their previous loyalty to the King of Italy.
If Italians wanted to restore a monarchy, there would be two royal houses in contention: Savoy and Bourbon. Savoy was the House that reunified Italy and led Italians into two world wars. The Bourbons originally came from Spain and ruled the “Kingdom of the Two Sicilies” – a strange name that included everything south of Rome before the Savoys kicked them off the Boot. We get the use of the honorific prefix don, as in Don Giovanni, from the Bourbon times, a distinctly Hispanic and southern Italian tradition.
Both the Savoys and Bourbons are waiting in the wings for their return appearances. Like all European royalty, they’re available for open thrones, glitzy galas, and (if single) promising marriages.
The “upper crust” is always dressed for the occasion. -JLM
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