Mardi Gras Royalty

Mardi Gras organizations form "krewes" or clubs that sponsor parades for the public and balls and other social events exclusively for krewe members and their guests. In other words, the basic structure of Mardi Gras is that it is paid for and put on by private individuals who organize in groups...no sponsors or commercial activity is allowed. Today anyone can join the krewes. they are democratic and free, but each still has a great deal of tradition woven into it's organization. For example, take the idea of royalty in the Mardi Gras krewe.
A krewe often names their parade after a particular mythological hero such as Cleopatra or Caesar, Roman, Norse or Greek god, an area of New Orleans in which most of the krewe members reside, And the ranking structure of each of those Mardi Gras Krewes is a parody of royalty: King, Queen, Dukes, Knights and Captains...or some variation on that theme. It's rather amusing seeing a middle aged man and women dressed as splendorous as imaginable in the garb of a famous King or Queen of the past. They sit on top of the "King" or "Queen float", royal scepter in hand and gold chalice filled with some libation that will be used to toast politicians or other privileged folks in reviewing stands along the parade route.
Where did the royal concept originate? Well, it is based on a real incident in New Orleans more almost 150 years ago. In 1872 the Russian Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff visited New Orleans at Mardi Gras. A group of businessmen organized the "Krewe of Rex" to host a parade for the occasion, and appointed a "king for the day" so that the grand duke could have a royal reception. It's also noteworthy from that Russian Duke's visit came the official song of Mardi Gras, If Ever I Cease To Love, which was played for the Duke when here and which is an utterly nonsensical, but pretty, tune that fits the nonsense of Mardi Gras. If you want to hear a tiny piece of it go to the link below that has small segments of Mardi Gras tuneshttp://www.nola.com/mardigras/about/index.ssf?/mardigras/about/content/stories/sounds.htmland click on the song title there. What other song has a lover who claims that "may sheep grow on apple trees if ever I cease to love" or "may the fish get legs and the cows lay eggs if ever I cease to love"?
I have the entire song and can send it by E mail if you like. It is quite amusing, pretty and endearingly describes the citizens of the Mardi Gras city, New Orleans. The music of Mardi Gras reflects this culture so very much, but that's a story for another E mail, another time.
As to the royalty in New Orleans Mardi Gras, after that appearance by duke Alexis in 1872, every parade started to name it's own royalty, so that naming kings and queens at Mardi Gras balls and parading with them has been a tradition of the krewes ever since. Another tradition began with that royal visit: the Romanoff house colors- purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power-became the official colors of Mardi Gras.
I remember as a small boy driving in the city and seeing a beautiful flag and banners in Mardi Gras colors with a king crown displayed on them draped on the balconies of one of the mansions of New Orleans. I asked my dad what it was and he said it was the "flag of the king " of a particular krewe. A krewe announces it's royalty by hoisting the flags of the krewe in front of the monarch's home at the start of the carnival season (January 6th). Each krewe, like each nation on earth, has it's own flag with its own symbols representing what the krewe is about. From that day on during carnival season whenever I see one, I always take a peek at the 60 or so flagged draped homes of the year's Mardi Gras krewes. It's a nice tradition that has managed to live on for so many years.
Uh....after today... if you think it fits...you can just start calling me 'King James The Magnificent'.