How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you
New AP Taylor Swift episode, "Royalty," out now!
Hear ye! Hear ye! This week’s show and tell topic is “Royalty!” We explore the historical and religious roots of royalty, and its portrayal in fantasy literature, and high school. Maansi discusses “Long Live” from Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Jodi brings in “Castle's Crumbling” Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault). And finally, Jenn shares “King of My Heart” from Reputation.
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Ah, royalty. Whether in history, reality, or even in religion, royals are the stars of many of our stories. I’m sure there is some sociological or psychological research on this, but unsurprisingly, I’m more interested in the literary history. And what better way to look at the power of royal stories than through the lens of King Arthur? I had a professor once tell us that the story of King Arthur could be found in almost every culture. She was (and probably still is?) one of the most prominent Arthurian specialists, so while I can’t cite a source for you directly, I’m inclined to believe her.
Why is his story so enduring? Well, we may now know the Arthurian legend as one of the OG love triangles, but I think its enduring legacy is more aligned with why we love superhero stories today - sometimes it’s nice to fantasize about a hero. And at the end of the day, that’s the core of who King Arthur was in his story: a hero who united his people and stood against evil.
Obviously, royalty plays a role in Taylor’s music, but by looking at the Arthurian legend and how it’s developed over time, perhaps we will see threads that go throughout both Taylor’s music and this timeless tale.
King Aelfred the Great
I know, I know. I said we were going to talk about King Arthur and then I have a whole section with a completely different name as the title. While the Arthurian legend is simply a legend, King Aelfred was very real and perhaps the inspiration for the Arthurian legend, so this is a good place to start.
At a very high level (check this article out if you want to know more), in the 9th century, the Danes were invading England. At the time, England was a collection of regions with their own rulers and citizens. A fractured England made the Danes generally successful invaders. That is until King Aelfred came to power and united most of the regions under his rule. Because of this unification, Aelfred held off the Danes throughout his time as king and created a reign of peace and education for his people.
These themes are key for King Arthur as well. Arthur also united Britain to defend against invaders, bringing about a time of peace and prosperity for his people. In this, I see a strong connection to “Long Live.” The idea that an unlikely group banded together to do something incredible and become the “kings and queens” is exactly what happened here with Aelfred and Arthur. Aelfred was the fourth son and was never meant to be king. Yet it all came together, and he did something no one else had done before. “Long Live” is full of hope and celebration, and Aelfred and Arthur represent that as well.
I will note that the connection between Aelfred and Arthur is debated, but the overlap is significant enough that I still wanted to bring it up. We don’t really know how the legend began, but I think that Aelfred certainly influenced how the legend was shaped over time.
The Love Triangle
Perhaps the most famous element of the Arthurian legend now is the love triangle between Arthur, his wife Guinevere, and his best friend and best knight, Lancelot. We often talk about the Arthurian legend as if it were one thing, but actually, many sources exist for the legend, and the love triangle isn’t in all of them. However, Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory is the version that primarily informs our modern understanding of the tale, and he definitely gets into the romance here.
In Malory’s version of the story, Lancelot and Guinevere fall in love even though they both genuinely love Arthur. The tragedy of the story is that no one here has bad intentions. It all just happens. No one wanted to hurt anyone else, but the connection between Lancelot and Guinevere was just undeniable. In some ways, I’ve always felt that the real tragedy is that, despite everything else he has, Arthur never gets to experience the love that Lancelot and Guinevere have. Perhaps that tragedy is part of why Arthur as a legend has such staying power. Here we have the story of a man who is an incredible king who does so much good, and yet he is still quite human in what he needs and how his heart breaks.
As for Guinevere, she represents a story that we see over and over again throughout history - the internal battle between duty and passion. In fact, I think “King of My Heart” could work pretty well as a Guinevere song. She is the queen and that creates a power dynamic between the two of them, but in her heart and the spaces where they can be free, she can crown Lancelot as the true king of her heart. Royalty is an extreme version of having to work within the confines of societal expectations, but I think many people can still relate to the feeling of wanting to have some control over who you love.
“The Once and Future King”
Another reason I believe that this legend is so powerful is it doesn’t end with a “and they lived happily ever after.” Lancelot and Guinevere are discovered and must separately flee the kingdom. The kingdom starts to crumble, and Arthur is ultimately killed. Camelot is conquered, and all that is left is the memory of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
It’s not hard to see the connection here with “Castles Crumbling.” Both the Arthurian legend and this song point to the idea that golden ages simply can’t last forever. Whether that’s due to the fickle nature of your supporters, the betrayal of your loved ones, or perhaps just the reality of change, both stories have a big high and a crushing low. And yet for both, this isn’t really the end.
In the Arthurian legend, King Arthur is known as “the once and future king.” Legend has it that when he was fatally wounded in his final battle, he was actually taken to the mystical island of Avalon where he was healed and put into a deep slumber. There he awaits a time when humanity needs him again the most. For Taylor, “Castles Crumbling” certainly wasn’t the end of her story. As she says in “Look What You Made Me Do,” she can rise up from the dead. In both of these things, I see a message of hope. The end isn’t always the end.
So…. Why Royalty?
Royals were the original famous people. Typically queens set the most popular fashions of the day. The royal court determined what kinds of activities were popular and everyone loved to gossip about who were the favorites and who was an outsider. If you think reality TV now is weird, it was common practice for people to simply observe royals living their day-to-day lives in many countries throughout history. It’s the human experience on an extreme scale.
The Arthurian legend contains heroes, villains, romance, heartbreak, power, betrayal, and pretty much every other element of the human experience. It leaves us with pain but yet a sense of hope still. Perhaps we are so fascinated with royalty because it reminds us that, despite having power and money, the human experience is still messy. Or perhaps we want to escape into a story where a true hero rises to power and actually does some good. Either way it turns out that great legends and great music do a lot of the same things, and all hail our princess of pop (and every other genre of music, too, these days).
