There are royalists, anti-royalists, and people in between who don't care either way. A lot of people dislike them as they basically live off of tax payers money for being born into the family, or want Britain to be a republic state. There are a lot of people who like them for representing and being a part of our culture and history. Other people just don't think they play a role in our day-to-day life and just generally feel disconnected from them. What I mean is, not everyone here absolutely loves the royal family like the outside view seems to be.
Of course~ There has to be a lot of uncertainty in working out what will interest readers and viewers the most, in general. Our perception of the outside world is created by what we will choose to read or listen to. Readers of The Sun are going to have a different view of events from readers of The Guardian about the same story. To your question, it works both ways, I think. The media makes people care, but also the people can sometimes affect coverage. I could really go on here, but...@~@ They are part of the royal family, and whether you like, dislike or don't care about them, everyone knows them -worldwide- so it's a great opportunity for a story.
Basically, they're used for creating relations with other countries/people/organisations, do royal visits, and bring in a lot of money from tourism. Some participate in charities and such. Parliament makes decisions "on the Queen's behalf" although she has no real power; the Queen is a constitutional monarch. As for matters of tradition, the Queen is the one who formally opens parliament at the start of the new session, and dissolves parliament before a general election (the Prime Minister has to get her permission to do so). When a new party is elected, the leader of the party has to meet the Queen where the Queen could, technically, refuse them as the new Prime Minister, although that has never happened. Bills have to have a Royal Assent to become law, but she has never refused. The Prime Minister meets with the Queen reguarly (sometimes phone calls though) to discuss political matters, but those are kept confidential and the Queen remains politically neutral publicly. She isn't allowed to vote or stand for election.
...That's probably a super simplified version though @~@ So yeah, basically what she does is through formalities and tradition since her powers have been taken away by previous bills and acts.
You also get a birthday card from the Queen when you're 100. XD If there's one reason you want to keep on living...
I, myself, watched the wedding and enjoyed it~ I like that the royal family is a part of our culture.
...I wrote too much.
