BRITISH MONARCHY IN THE SYNTACTIC MIRROR OF TWO PRINCESSES

Abstract

The present investigation is dedicated to a comparative analysis of Princesses of Wales’ speech portraits and behaviour through the prism of the thematic versatility and communicative representation of their public speeches. While the problem of speech personality has been in the focus of different research in the field of linguistics, an analysis of the evolutionary changes in the speech of Princess of Wales as a symbol of royal family and monarchy hasn’t been carried out. This and the role the royal family plays in forming the image of the country as a whole prove the topicality of the paper. Thus, our research aims at comparing the speech strategies of both princesses, the thematic representation of their speeches, and the communicative types of utterances employed by them. The corpus of the study counts 543 sentences form Princess Catherine’s public speeches and 527 sentences from those of Princess Diana. In the process of analysis, we have registered a considerable shift of the princesses’ interest from the world problems to the inner domestic problems of the citizens of the UK. Thus, while Princess Diana concentrated on humanitary initiatives (40% of speeches), social (in)justice (20%) and healthcare (20%), Princess Catherine focuses on the nation’s psychological health (40%) and problems of children & education (40%). Besides, Catherine promotes the role of arts for children’s development. In terms of their choice of communicative sentence types, Princess Diana’s speeches are by far more emotional, employing 10% of interrogatives and 8% of imperatives), while Princess Catherine’s utterances are more logically structured and rarely contain questions (4%). A conclusion has been made about a general change in the image of the British monarchy reflected in the princesses’ speeches. While Diana’s speeches emphasize pathos, empathy, and rhetorical appeals, embodying the concept of «Royal Heart», Catherine focuses on logic, structure, and institutional relevance, representing the concept of «Royal Mind». Changes in their thematic focus reflect political context, social priorities, and the evolving role of the monarchy altogether. Diana’s emotional style promoted global humanitarian engagement, whereas Catherine’s logical approach supports local initiatives and social stability. Together, their speeches show the monarchy’s shift from emotional expression to institutional action. The perspectives of our investigation lie in further research of the structural and lexical peculiarities of the princesses’ speeches with an aim to better understand and describe the changes in the image of the Princess of Wales as a royal figure.