How Light Can Turn into Deep and Serious

I love Sunday mornings. We usually go to 7.30 am Mass and then when we get home, we have a leisurely breakfast in the family room. While we’re eating toast and Nutella and porridge and syrup, we talk.

“What’s the latest royal news, Dad?” someone always asks.

Andy grabs his phone and does some googling, and then he entertains us with the latest royal gossip. The goings-on in the royal family is our fun topic.

“It looks like Meghan Markle really did have a baby. So much for the conspiracy theories!”

“What’s the baby’s name?”

“Archie Harrison.”

“Archie? Short for Archibald?

“No, it’s just Archie.”

“Harrison? After Harrison Ford?”

“No, after Prince Harry. You know: Harry’s son.”

“Oh.”

Our conversation is usually light, but sometimes one thing leads to another and we find ourselves in a deep discussion.

“Can a British monarch marry a Catholic?”

“Is the monarchy outdated?”

“Are there any benefits from being part of the Commonwealth?”

“Should Australia become a republic?”

“Should a monarch place her duty to her country and God ahead of her duty to her family? Should we?”

Talking of royalty, the other week Gemma-Rose and I watched an interesting documentary – The King in the Car Park – about King Richard III. Did you hear how his body was discovered under a car park about four years ago? We were familiar with Richard III because we watched a couple of versions of the Shakespeare play about this king. Like many people, we wondered if Shakespeare portrayed Richard correctly or did he do him a disservice? Perhaps the king wasn’t as bad as Shakespeare made out? Shakespeare did get one thing right: Richard III did have a severe curvature of the spine. .
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There are lots of videos on YouTube about Richard III and the discovery of his body if you’re interested. And Gemma-Rose and I would recommend The Hollow Crown which is a collection of Shakespeare’s historical plays including Richard III. Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of this king is excellent.

It seems that lots of people have a royal fascination because there are numerous movies and series about kings and queens. One series I’ve enjoyed very much is The Crown which is about Queen Elizabeth II. After watching one of the episodes, we had an interesting discussion about education and the value or not of toughening up kids by sending them to schools that practise strict discipline.

But back to our Sunday morning breakfasts. As you can see, our light and fluffy conversations sometimes turn into deep and serious discussions. But if they don’t, it doesn’t matter. Fun and trivial things can make us smile. And smiling together as a family is important, isn’t it?

And mobile phones aren’t always a distraction. They don’t always get in the way of family relationships. Sometimes they can bring us together.

“Did you hear that the Queen has announced her successor?”

“Can the Queen choose who succeeds her?”

“I thought the next person in line always inherits the throne.”

Andy grabs his phone. “I’ll do some googling and find out more!”

I’ve just thought of something else: Next weekend is a long weekend. Next Monday is a public holiday here in Australia because it’s the Queen’s birthday. Strictly speaking, it’s not her birthday. The Queen was born on 21st April, not 10th June. But it doesn’t matter. A holiday is a holiday. I’m guessing that republican or not, everyone will enjoy this benefit of belonging to the Commonwealth.

So I’m wondering:

Does your family has a favourite fun topic you like to chat about? Do you ever read the royal gossip? And what do you think about Shakespeare? Are you fans like us?