Working Royals, Megxit and Prince Andrew’s disastrous BBC interview
The online media’s representation of the British Monarchy between 2010 and 2020
Jagon P. Chichon | Asia University Asia University
This research incorporates Corpus Linguistic techniques with the socio-cognitive approach (SCA) to Critical Discourse
Studies (CDS) to analyse the discursive representation of the British Monarchy (BM) through the categorisation of its individual members
within the Now Corpus from 2010–2020. Analysis concentrated on their categorisation around key events over the ten-year period, most notably
the accusations that Prince Andrew had sexual relations with a minor and Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s decision to relinquish their
roles within the Monarchy. Significantly, the Royals were positively represented through the affixation of agency and active form to attach
them to positive actions, for instance, performing work and charity related duties. Negativity was deemphasised via the removal of agency,
passive use and a refocus onto less serious acts which distanced them, particularly the Queen and Prince Andrew, from scandal.
Keywords: the British Monarchy, corpus linguistics, online media, critical discourse studies, in-group protection, privilege, social hierarchy
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Literature review
- 3.Theory
- 4.Methodology
- 5.Data collection & analysis
- 5.1Quantitative analysis
- 5.2Qualitative analysis
- 6.Results
- 6.1Quantitative analysis
- 6.1.1Kindness and hard work
- 6.1.2Kate Middleton
- 6.1.3Meghan Markle
- 6.1.4Prince Andrew
- 6.2Qualitative analysis
- 6.2.1Active and passive
- 6.2.2Agency
- 6.1Quantitative analysis
- 7.Discussion
- 8.Conclusion
-
References
Published online: 10 November 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20020.chi
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20020.chi
References
Abell, Jackie, and Clifford Stevenson
Augoustinos, Martha, Iain Walker and Ngaire Donaghue
Baker, Paul, Costas Gabrielatos, Majid Khosravinik, Michal Krzyżanowski, Tony McEnery, and Ruth Wodak
Berger, Peter L., and Thomas Luckmann
Boshoff, Alison
2020 “The curse of Beatrice’s wedding.” The Daily Mail, March 20, 2020. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8136915/Curse-Beatrices-wedding-Sunk-election-Andrews-TV-interview-Megxit-coronavirus.html
Fairclough, Norman
Fullfact
2018 “How does the royal family make money?” Accessed January 6, 2020. https://fullfact.org/economy/royal-family-what-are-costs-and-benefits/
Gabrielatos, Costas
Harvey, Laura, Kim Allen, and Heather Mendick
Hart, Christopher
Heimbrod, Camille
2019 “Why Prince Andrew’s ‘Unprecedented’ Interview Could ‘Come Back to Haunt Him’.” International Business Times, November 17, 2019. https://www.ibtimes.com/why-prince-andrews-unprecedented-interview-could-come-back-haunt-him-2868040
Hodge, Margaret
2014 “Queen not served well by Royal Household and Treasury.” Accessed April 20, 2020. https://old.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/public-accounts-committee/news/sovereign-grant-report/
Laclau, Ernesto, and Chantal Mouffe
Maclaran, Pauline, Cele Otnes, and Eileen Fischer
Moscovici, Serge
ONS
2019 “Persistent poverty in the UK and EU.” Accessed June 26, 2020. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/datasets/persistentpovertyintheukandeu
Oxfam
2013 “The True cost of austerity and inequality.” Accessed June 22, 2020. https://www-cdn.oxfam.org/s3fs-public/file_attachments/cs-true-cost-austerity-inequality-uk-120913-en_0.pdf
Palmer, Catherine
Reisigl, Martin and Ruth Wodak
Repo, Jemima, and Riina Yrjölä
Scott, Jennifer
2019 “Election debate: five things from Johnson v Corbyn head to head.” The BBC, November 19, 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50481167
Sovereign report
2018–2019 “The Sovereign Grant and Sovereign Grant Reserve.” Accessed May 15, 2020. https://www.royal.uk/sites/default/files/media/final_sovereign_grant_for_website.pdf
Van Dijk, Teun A.
Wagner, Wolfgang, and Nicky Hayes
Widholm, Andreas, and Karin Becker
YouGov
2019 “Do you support or oppose these changes (no fault divorce)?” Accessed June 1, 2020. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/education/survey-results/daily/2019/04/09/b66e4/1
2020 “Do you think that Britain should continue to have a monarchy, or not?” Accessed May 25, 2020. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/travel/survey-results/daily/2020/02/18/8b405/1
You gov
2020 “Do you support or oppose the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s (Harry & Meghan’s) decision to “step back” from their roles in the Royal Family?” Accessed May 25, 2020. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2020/01/09/f8082/1
YouGov
2020 “What Great Britain thinks of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.” Accessed May 25, 2020. https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/explore/public_figure/Meghan_Duchess_of_Sussex