Haven't we all grown and prospered during the wise and fruitful Reign XVIII? Let's hear it for the Reign of Growth, Love and Encouragement! All hail Regent Empress Dee Dee Davis Jewel Rae Harpsburg, The Double Crowned Enchanted Crystal Butterfly!

Her Most Royal, Sovereign and Imperial Majesty Empress Davis — along with her counterpart, The Blood Red and Black Onyx Double Crown Emperor Bobby Birchmier — presides over the United Court of Austin, a confederation of drag queens and cabaret kings that has raised more than $600,000 for local non-profit efforts since its founding.

The groundwork for the United Court of Austin was laid when Jose I, the Widow Norton, declared herself Empress of San Francisco in 1965. A loosely organized coalition of imperial courts grew outward nationally from this first declaration of regency, and today the International Court System exists as the second-largest LGBT organization on Earth, boasting nearly 70 chapters in the US, Mexico and Canada.

“Our primary beneficiaries are Project Transition and the Wright House Wellness Center,” Empress Davis told CultureMap, “but we’ve also raised money for everything from the Breast Cancer Resource Center to the ASPCA. If it’s a 501(c)3 organization, we can raise money for them.”

We caught up with the Empress as she radiated her imperial presence into the rarefied air of Austin’s Mr., Mrs. and Ms. Drag Idol 2012, which took place at a joint called Town N Country, tucked away just north of 290 in South Austin. The Empress, clad in a spangly silver halter dress and a massive coiffure, looked as regal as can be.

Drag Idol is just one of the ways that the United Court gathers funds for its beneficiary organizations. Court members also performed at the Project Transitions Texas Swing Music Festival in June, and shows and pageants pop up around town with fair regularity.

The mother of all UCA fundraisers takes the shape of their annual coronation ceremony, a four-day extravaganza of shows, parties, poolside hospitality and glamazon bar crawls that could drag a fun-loving spirit out of the even the grouchiest of humans.

"It starts Thursday night and runs through Sunday night," Empress Davis said. "We have hospitality suites available for free for anyone who shows up, we have booze and food and all that. We have over three hundred guests internationally who come to the coronation, so you go to this event and you're seeing a lot of drag."

After coronation, the new emperor and empress select an investiture from within the ranks of court members. Princes and princesses and dukes and duchesses and lords and ladies are named. As these chosen royals continue to give back to the community, their titles grow in prestige, and they carry the prestige of their titles with them to other regional court coronations across the globe.

These generous, free-spirited folks in the Austin court stand as a model of positivity and community togetherness in a world increasingly focused on the individual. The regents and their investiture donate their time, their effort and their deadly runway swagger to projects and programs that foster the betterment of the human race at large.

Who does that, honestly? Kings and queens among men, that's who.

“People come out to these shows not sure what to expect the first time,” the Empress said, “and they’re like, ‘Oh my god, this is free?’

“A lot of shows you go to around town, there’s a cover charge, the performers are paid, and everything, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Here, if you like the performers, you put your money in the bucket and it goes to our organizations. These people are all just giving up their time, and I give a big kudos to everybody who does it. It’s very expensive to look this cheap.”

The Hilton Austin Airport serves as events hub for this year’s coronation celebration. You can visit the coronation page on the UCA website to peruse the schedule of shows and other merriment.

Whether you're a longtime front-row gawker or a drag show rookie (or if you fall somewhere in between, like most of us), drop by and chat with a regent or two. Offer tribute to the court and learn what it looks like when you're surrounded by dignified people of all shapes and sizes having positively enormous amounts of fun.

And, who knows? Maybe the new regents will take a shine to you. Maybe you'll work the bar or the door at one of this upcoming year's events and get a title in return. Haven't you always wanted to be a princess?

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Reign XIX of the United Court of Austin begins on August 12. Learn more about Project Transitions, the Wright House, the Mona littleMore Memorial Scholarship and other beneficiaries of the court by clicking the links on their names. Learn more about UCA itself on the court's website, or by signing up for their email blast at Yahoo! groups.