It’s undeniable that the presence of Queen Elizabeth II has been felt by every English citizen throughout her reign.
The Queen was a constant, unchanging leader. Now her passing has left us with King Charles III, a lot of feelings and opinions have arisen surrounding the Royal Family.
Opinions that raise questions on whether in 2022, we should still be under monarchy.
The former Queen, born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, was Britain’s longest reigning monarch, celebrating 70 years on the throne just this year for her Platinum Jubilee.
Following the event, YouGov published a poll revealing that the amount of Britons that are in favour of the monarchy has declined over decades, with the 73% in favour in 2012 falling to 62% at this current point in time.
While support for the monarchy is still in the majority, there is a clear decline, especially among the youth.
Only 14% of current 18-34 year olds think it’s very important for Britain to have a monarchy, leaving the future of King Charles III unclear - which begs the question, do young people still care about the monarchy?
Why do we still have a monarchy?
It’s clear many people still have a love for the monarchy in Britain.
This Monday an average of 26.2 million UK citizens watched the broadcasting of the Queen's funeral; with roughly 4 billion viewers worldwide.
An estimate of 250,000 people also attended the lying in state, with queues up to 2 miles long leading to 6 hour waits.
According to the official royal.uk website, “the Monarch undertakes constitutional and representational duties which have developed over one thousand years of history.”
It also says “The Sovereign acts as a focus for national identity, unity and pride; gives a sense of stability and continuity; officially recognises success and excellence; and supports the ideal of voluntary service.”
Thus stating that the Queen is seen to represent important British values that have been upheld for many years.
Moreover, another website claims that the Queen combined “personal charisma and professional distance to make sure that the monarchy remained, if nothing else, something that had reason to exist.”
It’s a possibility that the image Queen Elizabeth presented created more positive attitudes about the Royal Family across the UK, which may no longer exist with Charles as King.
Being left with King Charles may just be the thing to disassemble the sovereignty, or at least negatively change public attitudes.
Particularly when opinion of Charles has been low ever since his affair with current Queen Consort, Camilla Parker-Bowles in the 90s.
The divorce of then Prince Charles and Princess Diana brought immense criticism, and following Diana’s tragic death in 1997, the proportion of Britons that considered it “very important” to have a monarchy fell below 30% for the first time.
So now that Charles is in charge, the support for the monarchy may lessen again.
In fact, following the Queen’s funeral, there have been multiple protests and marks of rebellion, one in particular involving a coffin marked “RIP British Empire” being thrown into a river in Dublin city centre.
This took place during a protest march against the monarchy on the same day of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, and was described as being “against the grovelling worship of the English Monarchy by the Free State ruling class.”
Will there be more protests or will England thrive under the rule of King Charles III and do young people really care for the monarchy? Only time will tell.
Where do you stand on the monarchy? Let us know in the comments below.
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