Royal Heirs and the Uses of Soft Power in Nineteenth-Century Europe

This volume brings together a fascinating selection of studies exploring the soft power tools used by heirs to the throne in order to enhance the communication of monarchies with their audiences during the nineteenth-century. How we perceive royals and their dynasties today – as families, as celebrities, as charitable figureheads of society or as superfluous relics of a bygone age – has deep roots in the monarchical cultures of nineteenth-century Europe. By focusing on the role played by heirs to the throne, this volume offers an original perspective on the ability of monarchies to persuade sceptical audiences, nourish positive emotions and thereby strengthen the position of each dynasty within its respective nation. Using examples from Britain, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece, Sweden, Norway and Prussia, an international team of experts analyzes and explains the development of the very soft power tools which are still being used by Ruling Houses today.

About the Author

Frank Lorenz Müller teaches Modern History at the University of St Andrews, UK. He works on nineteenth-century European history and specializes in the history of monarchy. In 2011 he published Our Fritz: Emperor Frederick III and the Political Culture of Imperial Germany .

Heidi Mehrkens is Lecturer in Late Modern History at the University of Aberdeen, UK. She focuses on nineteenth-century European histories of monarchy, media and political cultures. In 2008 she published Statuswechsel. Kriegserfahrung und nationale Wahrnehmung im Deutsch-Französischen Krieg 1870-71 .