User blog:Tupka217/Ancient Pet Peeve: YJ's take on Royalty

I've had this issue with YJ (and on a grander scale, most American comics) for a while now: they know jack-all about modern European history. I realize it might be a funny and alien concept to Americans (and most European monarchies are really happy with all the tourist money that brings in), but it's also easy to mess up. I'm not even a royalist and these errors make me cringe.

There are three monarchies in YJ, and all three have issues you would not see in a modern European monarchy. Okay, fictional universe, fictional laws, I get it, but still.

Vltava

 * Perdita's father is the King, not the Prince-regent, so her father's side is royalty. In order to be next in line, Count Vertigo has to be a member of the Royal Family, not a maternal relative of Perdita. Greg mentioned he didn't think things through. And it shows. If he were the King's younger brother, he would a) be a prince and b) do not have to use a surname like Vertigo. Sure, he can be a Count, but the highest title is always carried. Even in cases where princes are removed from the line of succession (such as Friso), they'd still be called prince. Count Vertigo should be styled Prince Werner.


 * And then we come to Perdita. Perdita is 10 when her father dies. Maybe there's a special law in Vltava, but in real monarchies, minors can not become monarchs. If the monarch dies before the heir presumptive reaches maturity, a regent or council of regents reigns in the interregnum. Most of the times, this is the queen-consort, who, rather than queen dowager/queen-mother, becomes queen-regent (like Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont), with full responsibilities as a monarch. If the queen-mother is deceased or unable to reign, a council is formed to reign. This would include high ranking royalty. As the king's brother, this would probably be Prince Werner. He would rule as full king until Perdita were to come of age. He'd have eight years to have her die in an accident.

Bialya
As a side note, Muslim monarchies such as Jordan and Saudi Arabia tend to be more stable than republics, though that doesn't necessarily make them better - Saudi Arabia has a deplorable human rights record. The republics that overthrew monarchies tend to be the bad ones.

That's probably where the main problem with this kingdom arose: "Bialyan Republican Army". I assume this is inspired by the Iraqi Republican Guard, but monarchies cannot be republics. It would have to be "Bialyan Royal Army"

Atlantis

 * Ah, America's fascination with the jealous second son trying to usurp his older brother. This thing died out in the late middle ages. In modern monarchies, it's pretty clear for second sons that they'll never ascend to the throne naturally, and since most aren't evil, they're perfectly happy with that.


 * They're second in line until children are born, but that's normal. Aqualad wouldn't need to apologize to Orm who would lose his number two spot. Unless the king (or queen-regnant) is not married or has a history of not being able to conceive, the monarch's brother won't ascend to the throne. One example of this happening was Albert II; his brother Baudoin and his wife Fabiola had five miscarriages and no children, so Albert became king when he was 60. So not only is this rare, it's also a long wait (of course, Baudoin did not have a potentially deadly side-job as a super-hero). But for a young, under-30 couple such as Orin and Mera, there's still plenty of time to conceive offspring.
 * Not really a gripe with YJ, but I've seen this in plenty of fanfics: Artur, Jr. is not "Prince of Atlantis". Atlantis is a Kingdom, not a Principality. He's an Atlantean prince. It's possible he has a princely title though, but that would be "Prince of Poseidonis" or something.

Any other gripes/peeves/corrections?