Americans left the British crown behind centuries ago. Why are they still so fascinated by royalty?

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FILE - Molly Davis, left, and Amanda D’Aquila join a large crowd in New York’s Times Square to watch the royal wedding, April 29, 2011. The pomp, the glamour, the conflicts, the characters — when it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

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FILE - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, seated on the throne, receives the fealty of the Archbishop of Canterbury, center with back to camera; the Bishop of Durham, left; and the Bishop of Bath and Wells; during her coronation ceremony, June 2, 1953, in London’s Westminster Abbey. (AP Photo, File)

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FILE - Sandy Weimer, wearing a tiara, and Cathy Dettman, left, attend a royal wedding “hat and pajamas” party at the Cameo Cinema, April 29, 2011, in St. Helena, Calif., where more than 150 people filled the theater in the middle of the night to watch a live broadcast of the royal wedding of Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton. The pomp, the glamour, the conflicts, the characters — when it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

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FILE - Britain’s King Charles III waves as he and Queen Camilla leave Clarence House by car in London, Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. When it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. That was evident this week, following the announcement of King Charles III’s treatment for cancer on Monday, Feb. 5. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

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FILE - U.S. President Joe Biden, center, and first lady Jill Biden arrive for the funeral service of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey in central London, Sept. 19, 2022. (Dominic Lipinski/Pool Photo via AP)

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FILE - Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, wave from the Ascot Landau Carriage during their carriage procession on Castle Hill outside Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, May 19, 2018, after their wedding ceremony. The pomp, the glamour, the conflicts, the characters — when it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. (Paul Ellis/Pool Photo via AP, File)

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FILE - Lisa Casey, left, and Terry Campbell watch as the royal wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry to Meghan Markle unfolds during a watch party at the Olde Ship British Pub & Restaurant, May 19, 2018, in Fullerton, Calif. The pomp, the glamour, the conflicts, the characters — when it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

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FILE - Tourists watch the changing of the guard outside of Buckingham Palace, Sept. 8, 1997, near floral tributes to the late Princess Diana. When it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. Through weddings, divorces, births, deaths, they’ve been invested in it all. (AP Photo/David Brauchli, File)

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FILE - Memorabilia of Britain’s royal couple Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is available for purchase at Tea and Sympathy, May 17, 2018, in New York. The pomp, the glamour, the conflicts, the characters — when it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

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FILE - Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave to the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the coronation ceremony in London, May 6, 2023. When it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. That was evident this week, following the announcement of King Charles III’s treatment for cancer on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

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FILE - Roy Randall reads the cover of Elton John’s CD single, “Candle in the Wind 1997,” a tribute to the late Princess Diana, at a Tower Records store in West Hollywood, Calif., Sept. 23, 1997, as a photo of the late princess hangs on the wall above. When it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. Through weddings, divorces, births, deaths, they’ve been invested in it all. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, File)

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FILE - The coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is carried into Westminster Abbey for her funeral in central London, Sept. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

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FILE - Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, make their way to Buckingham Palace after the royal wedding in London, April, 29, 2011. The pomp, the glamour, the conflicts, the characters — when it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

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FILE - Valerie Malas watches the royal wedding of Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton live on television at the Globe Pub in Chicago, April 29, 2011. The pomp, the glamour, the conflicts, the characters — when it comes to the United Kingdom’s royal family, the Americans can’t seem to get enough. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty, File)

By DEEPTI HAJELA

The pomp, the glamour, the conflicts, the characters: When it comes to Britain’s royal family, Americans can’t seem to get enough. Through weddings, divorces, births, deaths, they’ve been invested in it all. That was evident this week following the announcement of King Charles III’s treatment for cancer.

While, yes, the United States got its start in 1776 by rejecting British royalty as a form of governance — and fighting a war to get away from it — Americans have never quite been able to quit their love of the spectacle of it all. And in celebrity-obsessed modern America, it’s one of the most compelling storylines around.

But why?

REASON 1: WHO DOESN’T LOVE A GOOD FAIRY TALE?

Kings and queens, princesses and princes. They’re mainstays of fairy tales and other stories, of imagination and play. They’re references for power and prestige, like Aretha Franklin as the “Queen of Soul” or the administration of John F. Kennedy as Camelot. And when there’s a fairy-tale romance presented as with Charles and Diana in 1981, or high tragedy with the premature death of Diana 16 years later, the intensity spikes.

“The monarchy becomes a kind of Holy Grail for everyone because that is the ultimate in terms of wealth, power, glamor, charisma — all of those things which you don’t have in that boring at-home situation,” says Maria Tatar, a professor of folklore and mythology at Harvard University.

The British royals aren’t the only ones to capture the American public imagination. In 1956, Philadelphia’s Grace Kelly, already a celebrity as an actor, married Prince Rainier III of Monaco. The ceremony was recorded and broadcast, watched by millions of Americans.

REASON 2: THE US AND THE UK, ALWAYS CONNECTED

While kings and queens might always be of some interest, there’s no denying that the residents of Buckingham Palace hold a special place for Americans, given the two countries’ long history with each other.

When the colonies decided to break ties with England and become independent, that was a political decision rather than a cultural one, says Joanne Freeman, a professor of history at Yale University.

But “while people were stepping away from the king and centralized power and tyranny, politically, they had been British subjects who saw Great Britain and the king as the height of sophistication and the height of everything,” she says.

The countries maintained relationships politically and economically. There was a social and cultural element as well: In the 19th century, some rich Americans would find husbands for their daughters among the British aristocracy. And of course, the 20th century has plenty of examples of music, television, etc., that traveled between the two societies.

REASON 3: THE CULT OF CELEBRITY

America LOVES (and sometimes loves to hate) celebrities. This we know.

And in this modern era of ubiquitous social media and technology, when there’s the impulse to make people famous for even the flimsiest of reality-TV reasons? Having a royal title means it’s all but inescapable.

“It’s absolutely stunning to me how many stories, how many pieces of gossip can be out there in the ether all at once,” says Erin Carlson, an entertainment journalist and author.

“This supercharged celebrity news environment creates almost a reality show,” Carlson says. “It makes a reality show out of William and Kate, and Harry and Meghan and Charles and Camilla. And we become glued to our phone screens for the next morsel of gossip.”

Being interested in the royals is also something Americans can do “in a guilt-free way because they’re not ours,” Freeman says.

“You can admire things in the monarchy and the pageant and the pomp and the fascinators on the women at big events because it’s over there. It’s not over here,” she says. “And in a sense, culturally, you could do that and politically there really aren’t any implications at all.”

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Follow New York-based AP journalist Deepti Hajela at http://twitter.com/dhajela