Monarchy Madness

It's a sure thing over here that, once people realise you're from the UK, the next thing they say is either going to be "Are you from London?" or "So what's it like having a Queen?". When i first arrived, it was always the former question, with the latter following soon after but after a brief lull in this trend (it was replaced by people just insisting i keep talking), it's back with a vengeance and squarely focused on the Monarchy. Quite why this should be, I am not sure - it could be because Prince Charles and Camilla are paying a visit over this side of the Atlantic (or were, i'm not sure if they're still here). Whatever the reason, it seems that I can't go anywhere without someone asking my opinion on the Queen, the Royal Family, Charles getting married again and, as mentioned above, what it's like to live in a Monarchy.

As you can imagine, my answers range from the glib and sarcastic (which usually go straight over the heads of most people here) to the weary (a few days ago, it seemed like EVERYONE i spoke to wanted to know the answers to these questions) to the genuine - most people here seem to think that i will/should be outraged at the fact that Charles got married to Camilla (for the record, i say good luck to them). The American interest in Britain and everything about it is, perhaps, nothing new. Nor is the interest in the Queen and Royal Family, i suppose. It's plausible that I may be the first Brit that most of these people are meeting so, naturally, they'll want to ask things like this. This could also couple with the general malaise about the American leadership right now. Either way, it's something that I suspect I may have to be putting up with for the time being.