#thenewroyals

WEAR YOUR CROWN

OWN IT!

Jourdan Dunn appears on one of six of W Magazine’s October “The New Royals” issue. 

Photo: Inez and Vinoodn

There was a time when we wanted to be rid of royalty. Ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity were inked by philosophers and passed around, the pages hidden in romance novels. Factions were formed in secret salons. Suddenly it seemed absurd, this concept of royal blood and divine right.

So we overthrew them. Drew our own boundaries, drew up constitutions. Good, honest citizens had a say in matters of state. For a while at least, we thought we had it right. 

A few centuries and several scandals later, we find ourselves disenchanted. Lord knows the monarchs had their mistresses, the coffers were padded when no one was looking, but there was just a way things were done. Enough with the suits and the handshakes and the endless tiptoeing around the politically correct elephant in the room. We crave a ruler with equal parts dashing and daring. 

It raised a ruckus in Parliament, and within 5 minutes the Internet was atwitter. But once the proposal went public, there was no going back. Or, rather, there was: a return to monarchy, with two caveats. First, no nepotism nonsense. Each reigning royal will be crowned by majority vote. And second, men have Bogarted the throne for much of Time and done little more than made a royal mess of things. For a modern monarchy, we'll take our cue from The Golden Age and elect a woman with a heart to lead.