Peel accepting his O.B.E. from Buckingham Palace
The Royal Family is the immediate family of a king or queen regnant, and sometimes his or her extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while the terms baronial family, comital family, ducal family, grand ducal family, or princely family are more appropriate to describe the relatives of a reigning baron, count, duke, grand duke, or prince. However, in common parlance members of any family which reigns by hereditary right are often referred to as royalty or "royals." It is also customary in some circles to refer to the extended relations of a deposed monarch and his or her descendants as a royal family. A dynasty is sometimes referred to as "the House of ...". As of July 2013, there are 26 active sovereign monarchies in the world who rule or reign over 43 countries in all.
Links To Peel[]
The interview from The Guardian
As a child, Peel was an admirer of King George VI and recalled on Peeling Back The Years, as the only boy at Shrewsbury School, who cried when he died in 1952. He included King George's speech in his Peelenium 1952 on his 12 August 1999 show.
Over the years, Peel developed a taste of the hippie life and later his left wing views, which did not stop him playing records in 1986 from Princess Stephanie of Monaco, when she had a brief music career.
At the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest in Brussels, Belgium, Peel briefly met some of the Belgian Royal Family including Queen Fabiola, who talked to him about California and keyboards, as mentioned on his 11 May 1987 show.
In 1992, Peel chatted with Princess Margaret, the Queen's sister, when she and past participants of Desert Island Discs were at the Reform Club to celebrate 50 years of the programme. He revealed that he discussed with her role, their role in the Archers, which both him and the Princess played their own characters.
In 1998, Peel was offered the O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) from the royal family and was undecided whether to take it or not, but his family convinced him to accept it when his son William suggested what was the point in rejecting the award.
Peel sarcastically mentioned before getting his OBE award on his 29 November 1998 (BFBS) show that he hoped he would get it from the Queen rather than a "down-market duchess or other". At the end he didn't get his award from the Queen, but from her eldest son Prince Charles, who Peel would often mention that the Prince and his courtiers having the same haircuts since the age of eight.
The Guardian published on 1st June 2002 an interview with several celebrities including Peel on their views of the Royal Family. Peel in his interview was anti-monarchy and suggested that the Royal Family doesn't serve any real purpose and are the victims of royalty as much as the taxpayers.