David Guba looks at a recent news story about an American fathering “claiming” a kingdom in Africa to make his daughter a princess and considers what lessons the father might be teaching his young heiress.
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That’s nice, but should she really be a princess?
Like Jeremiah Heaton, I am a father of three, and live in Virginia with my family. Unlike Heaton, if my four-year-old asks me if she would ever be a real princess, my answer wouldn’t be to continue to impose the European colonialist model in Africa, it would be a gentle and loving: “no, probably not.”
Using tactics from an old Eddie Izzard routine to bestow his child with a legitimate claim of being a princess, Heaton planted a flag in Bir Tawil, an ungoverned sliver of land three fourths the size of Rhode Island in between Sudan and Egypt, thereby declaring himself the area’s King. Bir Tawil lies on the Red Sea across Saudi Arabia. Heaton says he will seek Egyptian and Sudanese recognition of his crown, and will turn his tiny Kingdom into an agricultural hub to help enrich the region.
With affluenza being a particularly gross manifestation of entitlement and encouraging discussion, let’s take a look at entitlement. One of the meanings of entitlement is the giving of an honorary designation or title, such as “King” or “Princess,” which doesn’t happen very often to Americans outside of John Goodman movies.
I do believe Heaton’s action, research, and dedication to providing for his children is admirable, and the stuff ABC Family movies are made of. A pressing question, however, is what does this actually teach his daughter? Is it beneficial? Sure, she will know her father loves her very much, enough to establish a government with no historical precedence in the overlap of Egypt and Sudan, a war-torn region not particularly known for its fondness of foreign-established (or really, any) governments, but very enthusiastic about genocide, child soldiers, and beheading people who are not like them. Still, it is likely her attainment of a royal title will most likely not dissuade further narcissistic behavior.
If she is conditioned with fairy tales, a little girl will reasonably want to be a princess. For most girls, this is a passing phase propagated by a huge industry-movies, plays, dress-up clothes, books, video games, dolls, and cartoons being a few of the most common manifestations. I have princess tea parties with my girls, and have not gone a whole day without hearing at least one song from the Frozen soundtrack for so long that I will burst into “For the First Time in Forever” when it finally happens. I don’t think princess myths are incredibly dangerous if kept on a leash for what they are—myths.
If this little girl grows up a princess, her peers will resent her, or at least resent they are not also a princess. She will likely believe she is to be catered to and people exist to make her happy. These will be lessons which could be very painful to unlearn.
However, she may outgrow her princess phase, and the plan of enriching Bir Tawil’s neighbors, while reminiscent of the White Man’s Burden/Manifest Destiny, might be a smashing success. She might not be ladylike and demure, tasked with the job of being a pretty trophy, and may not carry the outfall of such a situation in to her relationships as an adult. She might put away the crown, have fully realized self-worth, and not lie in wait until Prince Charming redeems her.
Or, she might be both, a normal person who happens to be a princess. At least, as normal as one can be with a dad who goes around claiming parcels of land with the cunning use of flags.
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Credit: Photo—David Grigger/AP
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