He's able to get by on his family name, which is a marked downgrade from their long rule over most of Europe, seems to have set him up a fairly comfortable and easy-going life. That sounds like winning to me! If my country needs a new ambassador to the Pope, I'll be first in line!
Ambassador to a country with no currency or trade or airport. In the US it’s a meme that political donors get to be ambassador to one of the easy countries. Doesn’t get much easier than the Vatican.
Involvement? They pledge their zero troops and threaten to withhold their zero dollars of trade? Maybe restrict movement over their zero square miles of air space? Is it early modern period day on HN what is going on????
It is a relative downgrade, in the sense that Europe was a lot worse of a place to live in the past. But I’m not sure, I think I’d rather be a rich guy in modern Europe than some king. If you are a rich guy in modern Europe:
* You get modern medical care
* Fancy cars
* Killing you isn’t a major political objective for a bunch of different countries
* You can probably hang out with American celebrities if they have the time
By that token most people who have ever had the title of King, Shah, Emperor, Chief, Bwana, Pharoah, etc. would trade me my weight in gold to enjoy my flea-free mattress and working refrigerator.
