Bonjour! My name is FrederickLouis. I have noticed that Royalty has been involved in a lot of historic events.

Bonjour FrederickLouis. 

The reason royalty seems to be involved in a lot of historic events is that many surviving historical records tend to be about royalty and for royalty. It's a double-whammy in other words. So ingrained is this phenomenon that even when one seeks to take a neutral or holistic view of the human past, the dynastic narrative is always there on one's shoulder and is very difficult to shake off.

Welcome to the forum!

Hi FL, and welcome to the site!

I had noticed the same thing about royalty too, but have also noticed that a lot of history presented as "royal history" is really about all the others who happened to be around at the same time and what they thought, did, and planned - sometimes in the service of the monarch in question but as often as not quite independent of that person and without even telling them beforehand, and many times quite against their interests. Some of history's most momentous decisions have been taken by people whose names we will never know (and often no one knew then, either).

Having said that, thanks to a particularly sadistic teacher many moons ago I can still rattle off all the monarchs of England from Alfred to Lizzie, and to the same tune as I can all my multiplication tables to boot.

"Having said that, thanks to a particularly sadistic teacher many moons ago I can still rattle off all the monarchs of England from Alfred to Lizzie, and to the same tune as I can all my multiplication tables to boot."

Nordmann,

perhaps we can them rattle off too in Belgium as we have only had seven and the seventh only recently.
But I am nearly sure that most Belgians can start with the monarchs of the Burgundian period, over the Spanish, starting with our Charles V, over the Austrians and then briefly a Dutch king...Perhaps it is telling for the divide of the Low Countries after the Eighty Years war that no Belgian, even no Fleming, will be able to name the line of Dutch Stadtholders up to the take of the kingship by Willem in 1815.

Kind regards, Paul.

Under my Avatar is Joined December 13, 2016. Today is December 20, 2016. Has it not been 7           
days since I joined?

Hi FrederickLouis - it appears you can now post embedded HTML code (the week-long restriction in place as a new member which you wondered about). Note that you can also embed YouTube videos using the appropriate button in the correspondence interface so that they appear as videos in your post and not just as URL links.

I recommend also that you post links and/or videos which at least are relevant to the discussion thread in which you place them. Even better, if they advance a discussion or chat about the theme named in the thread or form a point in their own right, then that would be welcome indeed. Simply relaying information for its own sake is neither interesting nor particularly pleasant for others to read.

Never be afraid to say what you mean
But at least mean something ...