The notion of royalty refers to royal houses and families.
Royalty is a notion that refers to the condition of one who is king and exercises sovereignty over a certain territory. By extension, royalty is known as the group formed by the different royal houses and families .
The royal house includes the family dynasty that administers power in a region, along with its servants and assets. Its name may include a proper name, a place, etc. The House of Burgundy , for example, existed between 1032 and 1361. The House of Stuart , which reigned on Scottish soil between 1371 and 1603 , was longer-lived.
Royalty today
There are still royal houses today, although their power is very different compared to that of the royal houses of yesteryear. The House of Windsor (in charge of the throne of the United Kingdom ) and the House of Bourbon (the king of Spain ) are existing royal houses and are an example of how royalty works today.
The royal family, on the other hand, is that formed by the king and/or queen and their descendants. These families are made up of the king and queen, their siblings, their children, their nephews, their grandchildren and so on, encompassing the entire lineage of the group known as royalty.
Royalty remains in force in the Netherlands.
The British case
For various reasons, British royalty arouses immense interest in people from all over the world. On the one hand, there is the charisma of some of its most important figures, without leaving aside the controversial stories they have been involved in; the most notable example from the recent past is the tragic death of Princess Diana . However, in addition to the attraction of the characters , there is the charm of some of the monuments responsible for a large percentage of tourism to Great Britain .
Buckingham Palace is undoubtedly the most prominent icon of British royalty, as it is the official residence and office of the monarch . Year after year, the king (or queen) opens its doors to people from all over the world during the late summer so they can appreciate the interior of this iconic building. In addition to the architecture and the garden, visitors can see many of the treasures of the Royal Collection first-hand.
Kensington Palace , where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge reside, is another point of interest for royal lovers. Its appeal should come as no surprise, as it has been home to such figures as Queen Victoria and Diana herself. As in the previous case, there are different exhibitions that allow visitors to learn secrets and highlights of the dynasty .
The list of British royal attractions goes on, and it also includes Windsor Castle , which was the preferred residence of Elizabeth II , as well as being the oldest inhabited castle in the world. Outside of its official quarters, some of the main attractions of this castle are Queen Mary 's Doll's House , the Drawing Gallery and St. George's Chapel .
The Tower of London , for its part, stands out for its versatility throughout history , having served as a prison, royal palace, arsenal and zoo. Today it is a World Heritage Site and is visited by thousands of tourists every year.
Symbolic use of the term royalty
In a symbolic sense, the concept of royalty is used to name the group of individuals who exercise dominion in a discipline or field.
In this sense, it can be said that “The Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Pink Floyd were the royalty of rock in the 60s” or that “Upon arriving in the NBA, Manu Ginóbili began to rub shoulders with the royalty of world basketball.”