[Sca-cooks] Crown attendance at some/all activities

[Stefan li Rous]

Serena da Riva commented about a mis-understanding of what a (her?)  
Crown seemed to be saying.

However, I must respectively disagree with some of her comments.

======
At no point did His Higness (now Majesty) say that there could not be
rapier at an event he was attending. He was simply attempting to
communicate that neither he nor his Lady had any interest in Rapier
and that they would not be promoting Rapier in the form of sponsoring
a Champions Battle or watching Rapier at events.

And while I believe that we would all prefer to have Crowns that are
passionate about our particular area of interest - unfortunately that
does not always happen.
======

And for a single event, it can't always happen. Many events are now  
so crowded with activities that multiple things are happening at the  
same time. And it is difficult for a Crown to be at more than two  
places at once. Our barony is currently struggling with trying to  
simplify our events by not have all of our champions competitions at  
the same event, for instance.

In many kingdoms there are often several events every weekend. Even  
if the King and Queen split up and each goes to a different event,  
they still can't even attend every event.

====
I have known many a Crown with a Late period
European Persona who would not in any way attend the ME Hafla,
preferring instead to attend the European Revel.
====

Yes, for a single event choices have to be made. However, for the  
Royalty in the above quote, it wasn't the matter of having to miss  
one activity because of two going on at the same time at one event.

It was a conscious choice to avoid such an activity through out a six  
month reign. To avoid going to even one rapier activity while going  
to approximately 20+ events. Unfortunately, as a couple in the  
spotlight, avoiding an activity is not simply not promoting it, it is  
in fact, denigrating that activity and saying that a particular  
activity is not worth even a few hours of their time. "Sponsoring" an  
event doesn't require the Crown to be running it. Simply showing up.

Nothing says the Royalty is required to participate in all  
activities. If I remember right, they are only required to attend a  
few events, Coronation, Crown Tournament to pick their successors and  
a few others. All that I've heard of go way beyond this. And it isn't  
easy. I've got a Florilegium file with examples. :-)

However, I think the good Crowns will try to set aside some of their  
personal preferences and encourage all of the activities of their  
subjects.

Perhaps this Crown is doing things to support the Rapier community  
behind the scenes, but the way they are handling it gives a bad  
impression and provides fodder for those who argue that picking your  
organization's leaders by who can hit the hardest or ignore the blows  
the least obviously, is a poor way to select for leadership ability.

=====
It is indeed
unfortunate when the Crown does not pass on these preferences. If, in
this example, the organizers of the Hafla expect the Crown and make
extra efforts to comfort the Crown, and they never show up - there is
much embarassment and hard feelings.
=====

Unless the organizers of the Hafla had some communication from the  
Crown or the Crown's keepers that the Crown would be planning on  
attending the Hafla, then they shouldn't make the assumption that the  
Crown would be. And even if they got word that the Crown would be  
attending, they need to keep in mind that the Crown's schedule does  
change. I don't think the Crown needs to pass on their preferences  
publicly. This can be handled by the entourage or by the organizer,  
or better the event steward, communicating with the entourage.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****