Imperial and Royal Stars.

[Noelle Royale]

Today I can't barely pass a magazine stand or turn on the tv without hearing about today's much worshipped and idolized celebrities of entertainment.It really seems like it's their "Golden Age" as it was for the European Crowned Heads a hundred years ago.But did The Royal and Imperial Families of Europe and the World get this much coverage at that time?Did men and women,young and old emulate them as they do today with these calebrities?Were there novelty magazines that covered their lifestyles,their grand events and their zodiac signs?Were people able to get up close to them?And did any of them grant interviews?

[Alexander_IV]

That's just because everything these days is hypermediatised.

You have the same effect in music, film, sports, politics etc.
I don't think there was that much covering of royalty in the first half of the 20th century. Not because their popularity would have been less but because people had far less access to papers, magazines etc.
There was no television, internet and radio wasn't wide-spread yet.

And don't forget that lots of royals still don't run around giving interviews and letting people into their homes for pictures and such. Not that they should imo.
There are indeed royals who are pretty mediatized but I have the feeling sometimes that most of those don't mind and are actually seeking the publicity, for whatever reasons.

[CountessKate]

There was a huge covering of royalty in fashion magazines in the 1st half of the 20th century, which are perhaps a better guide to the popular culture of 50% the middle classes than more serious newspapers.  The Lady's realm, The Sketch, Femina, La Mode Illustree - all have pictures in every issue of royalty of all countries either in a social event context - e.g. yatching at Cowes - or in some sort of article talking about their family life, homes (generally using photos of the more public royal rooms - but the articles definitely exisit) or marital prospects or something like that.  For example Femina, I think, ran an article about royal women in uniform, with photos of various royals in the uniforms of the regiments of which they were colonels in chief - this was in about 1905.  There were no interviews with individuals, and the articles all have the same rather sickly awed/reverent tone which not even Hello magazine would be able to sustain today, but the interest was certainly there and is clearly a precursor to the celebrity culture we have today.  If you drop the reverence and increase the abilty to intrude on personal lives, you can see what all this interest could lead to a century later. 

Physical beauty was always a star-maker in the 19th century and women like Lily Langtry were tremendously admired - women stood on chairs to see her go by (because otherwise they couldn't see past the hats of the men crowding around).  Beauties like the Empress of Austria, the Empress of France and the Princess of Wales were similarly stared at (hence the Empress of Austria tended to keep her face hidden behind fans when walking since she had a very 21st century desire to control her image and hated to be photographed in her later years).  There just wasn't the technology around until the end of the 19th century to be able to 'capture' these celebrities for magazines and newspapers - but when it did become available it really helped to start the industry we see today.  But one has to remember that the media, for all its faults, will not print/show something the public doesn't want to see and if the readers of The Lady's Realm didn't want articles about the home life of the Empress of Germany in 1907, they wouldn't get them.