The British Royal Family versus the American First Family. Functions and Differences

Abstract or Introduction

In the United Kingdom, the Royal Family consists of close family members and the extended relatives of the ruler (Billig, 1992). Members of the Royal Family are either affiliated by means of birth or by marriage to other Royal Families (Vollmann, 2000). An example is the current regime in England under the rule of Queen Elizabeth (British Royal Family History). George V married Mary of Tech in order to strengthen their ties and bond with Germany during 1917 since George V had ancestry in Germany (British Royal Family History). After the marriage, the two royal nations decided to name their house as the House of Windsor since it was a unique house name without any ties to either nation (British Royal Family History). Queen Elizabeth, a descendant of George V, married Phillip who was the Duke of Edinburgh in order to strengthen the royalties therefore making the House of Windsor the official Royal Family ruling Britain (British Royal Family History).

The American First Families do not have any blood ties but certain First Families for example the Bush family maintained political respect having two more than one family member becoming the Head of State (Watson, 2004). Most American presidents came from rich families for example the Clinton Family while others started as mere people and later gained political knowledge and thus gaining high political positions for example the current president Barrack Obama (Watson, 2004).