Re: Their Majesties...

[Nancy Gilly / Philippa Grey <philippa.grey@snet.net>]

Poster: Nancy Gilly / Philippa Grey <philippa.grey@snet.net>

Quoth Gorm of Berra:
>Our Majesties are, in my humble opinion, in over their heads if they are
>attempting to be full time parents and full time monarchs, if only for 6
>months.  The SCA is a GAME, a recreation, it should be no where near as
>important to anyone as their real life concerns.

If this is the case, then why complain if someone playing this game does
indeed place it below real-life family concerns, or are we saying that the
highest visibility offices are off limits to people who do view the SCA
this way?

> If you have a 4 year old child, you should be able to
>forsee that he or she will want a good amount of attention in the next
>year.

Yes, but so do a lot of people's jobs, school commitments, etc, etc, etc,...


>Another gentle stated that it was period for only one monarch to be at a
>Court.  Umm, this is true, I presume, not being as studied in the area
>as the gentle who stated this.  However, the laws of Atlantia state
>quite clearly :
>
>       6.4.1.3 No one shall compete in the Crown Lists or be the
>               prospective consort of a competitor in the Crown Lists
>who cannot
>               fulfill the duties of the Crown.   
>
>I see no evidence of their Majesties being unaware of this law.  And
>their letter does sound as if they are saying "Well, we can't do the job
>right, but deal with it people".  Particularly the sentence "It is
>something that will occur more and more frequently as time goes on, lets
>make it as gentle a transition as possible".

I thought one of the reasons for having Royalty be a two person job was not
just that it is period to have a consort, but to allow for spreading the
load because we do have real lives (or at least we ought to.  I worry a bit
about people who see the SCA as the only thing in their lives.)  Both of
their Majesties are perfectly capable of fulfilling the duties of the
Crown, and nowhere in law does it say that these duties must be fulfilled
by both at the same time all the time.  There has been at least one reign
that I know of, can't remember whether it was in Atlantia or the East,
where the Monarchs (who were not mundanely a "couple") consciously decided
to try and go to as many events around the kingdom as possible by splitting
up.  This allowed a lot more RP events in more areas of the kingdom than
usual, and got a lot more awards out to deserving gentles since they didn't
have to wait another two or three reigns for royalty to be able to schedule
that group's event into their calendar.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding the letter in the Acorn, but I assumed that
TRM were merely suggesting that as a Society we will see a lot more royalty
with family obligations.  If you think about it we have people who have
spent their entire lives in the Society, and who are now raising their
children it it.   

>Picture if you will receiving your Award of Arms.  This may be the only
>time you are ever called into Court.  It may well be the finest moment
>in your SCA experience.  You want that moment to be perfect.  Now,
>picture only one of the two royals being present.  Particularly if the
>one that inspires you more isn't the one there.  That could very well
>lessen what is your one moment "in the sun".  

I grew up SCA-wise in a Barony which only had a Baron, and so I suppose the
idea of only one Royal holding court doesn't seem as odd to me as it might
to some.  
And what if the Reign which sees you finally get your AoA is royalty
neither of whom you particularly care for?  Would two of them be more
special than only half of a pair whom you think is wonderful?  The two
times I have been in court all I thought was "It's THE QUEEN" or "It's THE
KING", not "It's Brigid", or "It's Gregor".   

Your humble servant,

Philippa Grey



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