I knew I was going to teach history from at least middle school. I fell in love with history because my middle school social studies teacher, Mrs. Garcia, showed us Nicholas and Alexandra (1971) over a few days during a lesson on the Russian Revolution. At that moment, my interest in monarchy and royal history started. Mrs Garcia had Robert K. Massie’s book of the same name and let me borrow it (I don’t think I ever gave it back to her), and I read it cover to cover in a weekend, looking at the few glossy photo pages and drawn to this story. I was not so interested in the story of their love, which I know now is integral to understanding their story. I was more interested in the Russian monarchy, the imperial court, the uniforms worn by Nicholas II, and the insignia of the medals and orders he wore. It had to be about when I found the Alexander Palace Time Machine website and forum and things like floor plans and historical photos I had never seen before, trying to reconstruct their life in my mind. It had to be about when I got the Sims 2 and spent hours trying to recreate the Alexander Palace.
My fascination with history and royalty has grown in the twenty-ish years since I was in Middle School. In my undergraduate years, I spent more time reading books from historians who wrote niche works on the topics I was interested in, going deeper into topics than consumer books could. I did not think there was any ability to focus academically on monarchy, royalty, royal courts, royal orders, or whatever fringe topic I was interested in, so my reading was often for pleasure. Sometimes, I could insert something into a research paper here and there, but I never found anyone with the same interests as me. It was about the same time I coined the term coronology—meaning the study of all things related to the crown—of course, and I am sure someone in science somewhere has used the term—I am looking at you, Coronavirus researchers. However, I always liked it when trying to explain what I am interested in when it comes to studying history.
During my master’s program, I explored my favourite topics of coronology a bit more, writing papers on things like the plan to bring Napoleon to Louisiana after his downfall. However, it was a much broader focus overall for the program. Since I finished my program in February 2017, I have spent so much time trying to figure out a research topic for a PhD in history. However, again, I did not think there was much room for a student of coronology in academia. That changed when I found the Society for Court Studies, co-founded by one of my favourite historians, Philip Mansel—seeing an academic, professional organization of historians interested in a fraction of my interest so impactful. Since then, I have been trying to narrow down topics to write about so that, hopefully, one day, I can publish something of academic worth and join their illustrious ranks.
In the meantime, I often get the urge in my research or even from something in the media to write, comment, inform, or whatever on something related to my little niche of coronology, so I decided to blog about it. I established coronology.com to share my thoughts and findings about everything related to monarchy, royalty, and nobility, both reigning and non-reigning. I hope you enjoy what I have to say. I am also happy to share this space with anyone with like-minded interests.