If you wanna really get confused add some Brits to your family. My brother-in-law is British Army. He's utterly normal in every possible way except he's absolutely glued to every piece of news about the royal family. Has a photo of the Queen in his house. Not with the Queen, just a portrait. I'll probably have to send him a condolence card after today.
Its decidedly less dumb than the Kardashians, there is at least some purpose in terms of national pride and a symbol of making sacrifices for the nation. But the paparazzi aspect of it, much like the state of celebrity here, is utterly baffling to me.
A guy in my fire academy class was also British Army. He was dead serious about wanting to take the day off from the academy (think boot camp, you don't get days off), when the Royal Wedding happened. The Kate Middleton one. Like he wanted to be glued to the TV all day to watch it unfold. He tried to get a day off, he tried to ask if he could come in but watch on TV in a classroom in lieu of doing fire training. He wasn't joking. To the point they actually had to tell him, if you don't show up, don't come back. I think, maybe, he eventually got over it.
