Is Camelot finally over with the death of Ethel Kennedy?

That’s what the Daily Beast saw with the headline “Sex Scandals, Drugs, and Tragedy: What Happened to Ethel Kennedy’s Children?” shortly after Kennedy died last week at the age of 96. No more genuflecting before “a brief, shining moment” – the line from the Broadway musical “Camelot” that Jackie Kennedy conjured days after the assassination of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, November 1963. Just “the good, the bad and the ugly” about the descendants of Ethel and Robert F. Kennedy. The presidential candidate, like his brother, became a martyr after he was fatally shot in June 1968 after declaring victory in the Democratic primary in California.

While so much reality may seem too harsh so soon after Ethel Kennedy’s death, coverage in other media also reflected the now familiar ups and downs of the Kennedy family history. Ethel Kennedy was widely recognized as a passionate supporter of the family legacy. Nevertheless, the New York Times, for example, also addressed the family’s dissatisfaction with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had recently abandoned his candidacy for president to support Donald Trump.

If it took just over 60 years for truth to compete for space with myth, that shows the genius of Jackie Kennedy’s long-ago interview with Life journalist Theodore H. White. The way she framed her husband’s time in the White House in the mythical terms of “Camelot” stuck for decades and still resonates with Americans of a certain age. So much so that after her death, Ethel Kennedy was initially remembered as “one of the last living links to the Camelot era.”

But how long will we view this family through the 1960s Camelot prism? Considering how much time has passed, it’s time to think of the members of the Kennedy family the same way we think of everyone else. They are people with strengths and weaknesses – and that includes Ethel Kennedy, the family matriarch, who deserves recognition for her survival skills.

Her parents died in a plane crash and her brother died in a crash in 1966. In addition to these traumas, she experienced the murder of her brother-in-law and then her husband. Two of their eleven children died: David from a drug overdose and Michael in a skiing accident. Two grandchildren also died. In addition to her immediate family, she also had to deal with the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. and other recent family complications. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was arrested for heroin possession in 1983, is also currently involved in a sex scandal.

In good times and bad, Ethel Kennedy kept her husband’s legacy alive through the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation, which promotes economic, social and racial justice. For this and more, she was hailed by President Biden as “an American icon – a matriarch of optimism and moral courage, a symbol of resilience and service.” Devoted to family and country, she had a spine of steel and a heart of gold that inspired millions of Americans, including me and Jill.”

Phil Johnston, a Kennedy family friend whose relationship with the clan dates back to RFK’s 1968 presidential campaign, calls Ethel Kennedy “an amazing woman” with an unwavering commitment to social justice. Like others, he also remembers her sense of fun. “One time I said to her, ‘Ethel, one of the problems we have in this world is too many people,'” Johnston said. “She said, ‘Are you forgetting who you’re talking to?’ She had a great sense of humor. She had the best stories.”

Ethel Kennedy may deserve admiration for many reasons, including humor, longevity and extreme grace under pressure, but the Kennedy family show as a Camelot production has run its course. And according to Johnston, that’s fine with them. “The Kennedys don’t believe in it. They don’t talk like that.”

For good reason. The late Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts was probably the last person to flex real political muscle through the power of his name. In fact, he and Caroline Kennedy, JFK’s daughter, may have been the last in the family to do so when they supported Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in 2008. When Joe Kennedy III lost a primary in 2020 to incumbent Senator Ed Markey, the Kennedy dynasty was declared over and Camelot’s future was at stake. In 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed in his attempt to exploit the family name, although Trump apparently still believes there is value in it.

However, what has value is not a name – or a myth. It is a commitment to certain values. It is the ability to inspire people, make them feel like you are looking at the country in a special way, and can help people work together to achieve common goals. Maybe another Kennedy can do it, maybe not.

Just don’t call it Camelot.

Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @joan_vennochi.