Nature moves quickly to fill a vacuum and such is the case with states not possessed of a royal family. The US is perhaps the most obvious example: celebrity is royalty. Diana was their adopted princess for a while but her passing has meant a reversion to the norm. A "celebracy" is more democratic than a democracy headed by monarch or president. No one person is inflicted on the nation and you can be as fickle as you like in your choice of celebrity. Perhaps then it is not the individual celebrity but the concept of celebrity which is so powerful.
France has its political famille royale , les Chirac. Perhaps respected but hardly well-liked Jacques's "popular" vote at his re-election a couple of years ago seemingly gave him the most overwhelming mandate of modern time yet this was gained for no other reason than the fragmentation of the left which allowed Mr Le Pen, of the far right, to have the merest sniff at power. Reality came as a slap to the face and the latter received less than 20% of the run off vote. So now we are fascinated by JC (amusingly) and whether he is wearing his spectacles or not and whether that indicates a weakness. He is 74 this year, give the man a break! He has been leading the third French republic for 10 years and has another 2 to go. His wife, la belle Bernadette, is famous for her omniprescent handbag and a stiff hairdo.
I digress. The real royal in France, the souverain, has reigned for some 40 years, though more obviously as his longevity as a master of his craft was proven. He is, le rockeur, Johnny Hallyday. He graces magazine covers with his preternaturally preserved face, tanned, coiffed with blonde streaks not often (wisely) seen on the head of a man in his sixties. The never-ending light entertainment specials so characteristic of French TV would not be special without Je-on-nee's presence nor his interprétation of his latest tube*. His 60th birthday was feted in France no less intensely than the jubilee of Elizabeth 2.
The phenomenon that is Johnny Halliday needs no explanation as he has penetrated the French consciousness so profoundly that he is the male equivalent of the Marianne, the female symbol of the French state.
Johnny is more than the French Sir Clifford of Richard. although I believe he is the recipient of a Légion d'Honneur the equivalent of a knighthood. Not only, unlike Cliff, did he find the right girl, he found her four times. He shifts product as effectively as he ever did, his latest and 33rd number one feting his adopted Vietnamese daughter, Jade as she is cradled in the arms of his much younger 4th wife (29) in the audience looking adoringly on.
So what can have gone wrong in the court of this national treasure?
He has applied to become Belgian.
Betrayal, treason, disbelief. Lifelong fans threatened to burn the entirety of their Hallydalia and event which should for safety reasons be attended by at very least the local pompiers. Imagine the size of the bonfire.
Of course in this multinational, intenational age one's nationality shouldn't have that much importance certainly when this is about the person rather than the product he pushes. Yet the French feel personally slighted.
I have to admire someone who is likely to become the most famous living (and probably ever) Belgian. I have even come to enjoy some of his records. Just as long as I don't have to watch him perform.
*tube= hit
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