Yet the British monarchy is also the most successful of its kind in history, and continued global fascination and admiration mean billions around the world will be watching when the Queen's grandson William marries "commoner" Kate Middleton on April 29.
Why do we care so much? And why has this institution survived for more than a millennium when most other kings, queens, czars, emperors, kaisers, pharaohs and shahs have succumbed like lemmings off a cliff to revolution, war or indifference?
Some view it as simply the allure of what seems to be a modern fairy-tale evolving before our eyes. On April 29 that dynamic will be on overdrive due to a massive social media focus on the event.
"Spectacles have always been popular," Queen's University historian Sandra den Otter said in an interview, pointing to the "bread and circuses" strategy used by political leaders dating back to Roman times to placate the masses.
British pollster Andrew Hawkins said it's all about celebrity culture.
"The Queen is still the world's biggest celebrity, she's the most photographed and represented woman that there has ever been," he said. "The celebrities people look up to are here today and gone tomorrow, but here's something that goes back more than a thousand years."
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