I remember when The Crown Season 4 premiered and “Lady Diana Spencer” was introduced. Then-Prince Charles freaked out and began a bonkers campaign against Peter Morgan, Netflix and The Crown. It was then that I realized that “support for Charles and Camilla” is a mile wide and an inch deep. Even today, now that we’re dealing with King Charles and Queen Camilla, that’s the extent of their support – a vague sort of “we appreciate the continuity but we don’t actually like Charles and Camilla all that much.” The Prince Andrew situation hasn’t helped at all, especially since Charles has made a point of including Andrew at many events during his reign, even though Charles has known this whole time that Andrew is a degenerate rapist who was BFFs with human traffickers. Well, the anti-monarchy group Republic paid for some new polling and they found that support for the monarchy has actually fallen drastically.
Support for the monarchy has fallen below 50% for the first time, according to a new poll. Campaign group Republic commissioned a poll by Savanta on the royal family under the reign of King Charles, who was crowned last year. It found that the monarchy is rapidly losing support, with fewer than half in all age groups under the age of 55 preferring the royals to an elected head of state. When asked if they would prefer the monarchy or an elected head of state – just 48% said they would prefer the royals.
Meanwhile, a third (32%), said they would like an elected head of state, with a large swathe of “don’t knows”.
Republic CEO Graham Smith said the results showed the UK desperately needed to discuss the future of the royal family and the country’s head of state, particularly in light of Prince Andrew recently being mentioned in the Epstein files.
“This is huge. Royalists have spent years saying the monarchy has the support of the country – that’s clearly no longer the case,” Smith said. “The monarchy is suffering a calamitous loss of support, yet one in five aren’t yet sure about the alternative. We desperately need a better informed, more robust and higher profile debate about what it means to abolish the monarchy.”
Smith added that the same poll carried out in November last year showed that 52% of the public supported the monarchy.
“In just six weeks they’ve dropped four points,” he added. “The monarchy relies on a fake mandate built on polling numbers, yet that argument no longer stands up. Andrew has clearly done significant damage to the monarchy, but Charles is the one responsible. He has been behind decisions on how to mismanage the scandal, and how to respond to Harry and Meghan. This is the result. The monarchy is on borrowed time. Britain will be a republic.”
While I think Graham Smith is going a bit overboard, one of his key points still stands: “The monarchy relies on a fake mandate built on polling numbers, yet that argument no longer stands up.” It’s true – the Windsors and their media handlers have found a way to game the system, publishing the results of right-wing push polls to claim that there’s widespread support for the monarchy, which the monarchy then uses as evidence of their own mandate. The bad news is that even a poll conducted as the Epstein files were being unsealed has revealed that there IS still a significant base of support for the monarchy. Oh, and limiting the poll to people under-55 isn’t slick either – it’s well known that the monarchy’s base of support is much, much older.
The photos in this post are from King Charles’s last three church walks in Sandringham, including this past Sunday’s church visit, where he was not joined by his queen consort. Instead, he walked with a mystery woman. She’s a mystery to me, I mean. Maybe y’all know who she is. Even the Mail didn’t identify her. Curious.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attend Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church, Sandringham, United Kingdom, on 25 December 2023.,Image: 832316980, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Arthur Edwards / Avalon
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- King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Catherine, Princess of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Prince Louis, and Prince William, Prince of Wales, attend Christmas Day service at St Mary Magdalene church, Sandringham, United Kingdom, on 25 December 2023.,Image: 832316985, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Arthur Edwards / Avalon
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- Members of the British Royal Family attend the Christmas Day service at Sandringham Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: Sandringham, Norfolk, United Kingdom When: 25 Dec 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Members of the British Royal Family attend the Christmas Day service at Sandringham Featuring: King Charles III, Queen Camilla Where: Sandringham, Norfolk, United Kingdom When: 25 Dec 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- Members of the British Royal Family attend the Christmas Day service at Sandringham Featuring: King Charles III Where: Sandringham, Norfolk, United Kingdom When: 25 Dec 2023 Credit: Cover Images
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attending a morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church. Featuring: Queen Camilla, King Charles III Where: Sandringham, United Kingdom When: 31 Dec 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III and Queen Camilla attending a morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church. Featuring: Queen Camilla, King Charles III Where: Sandringham, United Kingdom When: 31 Dec 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III arrives to attend a Sunday church service at St Mary Magdalene Church. Featuring: King Charles III Where: Sandringham, United Kingdom When: 07 Jan 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- King Charles III leaves after attending a Sunday church service at St Mary Magdalene Church. Featuring: King Charles III Where: Sandringham, United Kingdom When: 07 Jan 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Someone needs to do a deep dive into their finances and show what they truly cost taxpayers and show ways that the money could be used to benefit the country as a whole instead of a group of elites.
Imagine a forensic audit of the royal family. All of the cash flows. All of the assets. All of the property. All of the tax benefits.
In case it’s of interest, the Guardian did a series last year on the British royal family’s wealth:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/07/british-royal-family-wealth-finances-cost-of-the-crown-summary
You can also search their “Today in Focus” podcast for a series on same — they did a repeat recently.
There was also an article comparing taxpayer costs for various royal families in Europe, with the Windsors coming out on top. Here’s an opinion piece (again from last year) on that:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/commentisfree/2023/apr/05/royal-family-monarchy-cost-of-the-crown
Those folks offer the plebs in their country nothing. They parade around in gauche attire while running and dodging whatever responsibility they have to their public. Their Queen is gone, what is left is absolutely nothing. What they need to do is roll up their sleeves and do the hard work of helping those most in need in their country instead of flaunting their wealth .
As much as I’m pro Graham Smith, I wish he’d be more legitimate in his tactics. It wouldn’t have killed him to take an honest poll. The numbers are still dropping by a wide margin.
These numbers won’t get better, even if W&K took the throne tomorrow, it wouldn’t get better. One of my favorite films is The Last Emperor and when I look at William, I see him going down the same path as Pu Yi, the last emperor of China. Except, I don’t think William would ever allow himself to be “reeducated” in the same way Pu Yi was.
Do the polls prove anything either way. More useful info would be how many would be supportive enough of a republic to call for a referendum and how many would get out to vote either way. The apathy and lack of support doesn’t mean someone would bother to be anti enough to take action. That is how they are coasting along now.
I can’t take these folks seriously after they went on an anti-MH campaign AFTER they left. What, did the check from Charles not arrive this month? The flimsiness of the poll undermines their point completely.
I really don’t think support for the monarchy is going down that much either. Every magazine cover in Target yesterday was plastered with Kate’s face and England seems to be filled with people loudly ready to defend Andrew.
Kate and William are the key to having access to their children. That’s why you see glowing articles about Kate in People magazine. Harry and Meghan won’t give them access to their children. If they did you would see glowing articles about them. Also they would drop Kate and William like hot bricks. The only people who cover Kate and William religiously are the tabloid mags here and we don’t take them seriously. Personally I read them while waiting in the checkout line in the grocery store. Meghan and Harry dominate the news here not Kate and William. Most Americans don’t care about what Kate and William do daily and it isn’t covered here like in the UK. People magazine has an agenda. Be nice to Kate and William and you may get future stories about their kids.
The National article does not suggest Graham Smith commissioned a dishonest poll. The company that conducted the poll is a legitimate market research company: “Savanta interviewed 2281 UK adults aged 18 and above online between January 5 and 8 2024.” So it appears Savanta properly attempted to reduce bias by group selection and sample size. Beyond that, no information is given about the rigor that went into getting a representative voting sample in the online poll.
The monarchy hasn’t lost four percentage points since November. There’s something called a margin of error to account for that. But the point still stands. The monarchy clearly is losing altitude among the British people. And, as the older folks die off, they will be left with people who lack a memory and affection for the institution. The best you can say is it’s just a matter of time till the whole bloated thing crumbles.
I can imagine Peg using this poll to his advantage, thinking that he and Triple K would be more popular. He’s wrong. I think his reign will be the final nail sealing the downfall of the House of Windsor.
What’s fascinating to watch is how things are steadily unraveling around the royal family and yet they don’t seem to have any awareness — like a lobster in a cookpot. My guess is the end of the monarchy will take the royals by surprise, unlike those of us who have been watching them slowly sink into irrelevance since Diana’s death.
The entire system is collapsing. So many different institutions are tumbling now, and it’s almost as if everybody is afraid to call it. I can’t imagine the British monarchy lasting another 30 years. My hunch is that William himself will abolish the whole thing somehow. He’s lazy and disinterested and maintaining it while rebuilding public interest will take a lot of energy. His grandmother rode the post-war wave of popularity. He won’t have that.
I agree. Williams obviously sees no value in what the RF call ‘work’. He’s only interested in the status of his title and the money and properties attached to it.
I think your spot on. William will get his crown, negotiate terms with parliament, and parliament will call a referendum that will pass.
Queen Elizabeth was the last true royal. She was a bridge between eras, and the last of her kind.
Charles looks like he’s cosplaying the role of king in his coronation photos. He and the rest of the royals are only of interest to the public as celebrities – not as heads of state. Harry has understood this for years.
I do have some sympathy for Charles as he was not treated well by either family or his schoolmates – but his willingness to play ball with the media at his sons’ expense (he’s thrown them both under the bus over the years, especially in his 70th birthday Magazine interviews) reveals his nature, and it’s not flattering.
Gee, I wonder why! Is it the widespread racism? Is it the bullying of the married-in American? Is it the fact that they cost more and more each year and all that accounts for nothing? Is it the fact that they have been covering for alleged paedos for quite a while? Is it the fact that they have been involved in so many financial scandals, as the fingers in my two hands? Or is it the fact that they behave any way they like with no legal scrutiny? This girl wonders…
Anyway, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, burn them all to the ground!
Not going to lie, with as petty as Chucky and Cam have shown themselves to be, it would be absolutely hilarious if his last act as ling before dying would be some sort of big public statement about wanting to end the monarchy and have the UK become a republic. Never going to happen but it’s fun to dream…
I can actually see that happening. It’s just how angry William makes him and Camilla. Charles doesn’t care about William or the monarchy. He just cares that he gets to be King. And if that’s the end of it then who cares. If he gets more feeble. I can see it happening even sooner.
I can see this happening too. Charles comes off as a man who cares very much about his own “legacy”, which in it’s current state is mostly being framed to look like he’s merely a placeholder between QEII and William’s reign. Declaring the end of the monarchy would not only stick it to his heir that he despises so much, it would also cement his legacy as the Last King Of England who was “wise enough to see that the monarchy no longer has a place in the modern world” (you’re welcome for the future quote BM, lol). I think it will ultimately come down to whether or not Charles will have the balls to face the immediate fallout and consequences for doing so, because I think that he would need to still be alive and of sound mind in order to pull it off. If he waits to declare it posthumously in a will or something along those lines, then I don’t think that it will work.
Although I do find the poll’s figures suspect I don’t doubt the monarchy’s popularity has taken a huge hit with the passing of QEII. IMHO their main problem is their behaviour is more akin to a like gossip monger than a royal. QEII lived by the “never explain, never complain” maxim and as a result we very rarely heard/saw her dislike about anyone (let alone a family member.) Contrast QEII’s regal approach to her position to those who have followed her. Every day we’re bombarded with some source/friend telling us how Kate, William Charles and Camilla are snubbing, incandescent, unhappy, sending out olive branches to a member of the family who they ostrasized and isolated years ago. Regardless of whether people like/dislike H&M there comes a point when people start looking at the monarch and his heir and question why they keep airing their dirty laundry out in public. The sooner the senior royals realise how much work QEII put into maintaining a mystique around the monarchy (one being having very few sources speak/leak on her behalf) the better it might work out for all of them.
Well said, Laura. Totally agree with you. The Royal Mystique died with QEII.
How could this be with such a fine and upstanding monarchy (not). People are sick of the racism and the pedos and all the money going to this cult while the people are suffering. Let’s hope that more people think the same way and do away with this corrupt monarchy cult.
Charles and his $100M gold carriage plus the enter coronation cost, that should have been the first nail in the end.
Endless spending, the criminal acts by Andrew, we know a lot, and what is still being covered up, etc.
The Firm is on the way out. Only question is how long will it take?
I’ve spent a lot of time in England over the last few years, and my impression is just apathy towards the BRF. I know we all follow these paps and royal commentators like they’re somehow representative of what the average person thinks-but I just don’t think it’s accurate. Most people really don’t pay attention to them. They’re basically irrelevant. So I know we want to pin the blame on Charles and Camilla because they’re thoroughly unlikeable, but I think it’s more than that-it’s just a big cultural shift.
I would agree that WK’s laziness and determination to retreat into private life and just do the occasional splashy Gown’s and Garters roadshow is going to doom the Monarchy to oblivion. The “work horses” will retire or die off leaving Tweedledee and Tweedledont enjoying themselves in splendour and the tabs still telling us peasants to feel blessed at having them as our King and Queen??
As a monarchist but not a royalist, supportive of the institution but apart from Charles and Anne with little time for the rest of them, I don’t believe it will end. And, indeed, hope it doesn’t.
However, some of the sentiment expressed on here I do sense is reflected in the wider UK population especially now with The Queen gone. What I think will happen is that future left-wing UK governments will take an increasingly hardline with the RF, to the extent their funding may well end up linked to the actual work they do. And that will, somehow, include both the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall. I don’t care what legal set-ups currently and historically exist with both Duchies, the running of them and their financials will be taken over by the government of the day.
That, I predict, will be the end result of W&K’s shocking laziness
Unblinkered, I hope part of the money from the duchies go to do all of the necessary upkeep on all of the buildings in the Crown Estate. It sounds like there are many that need it. Alternatively, tear them down and be done with it.
I think getting them in shape and leasing them (market rent) would be a great way to maintain the properties in the future. All of the castles should be opened to the public and that money should go to upkeep. Then all of the duchies’ income could go to the government.
Sound sense, Saucy&Sassy
Unblinkered, I’m curious why you’re in favor of monarchy? What value you see?
As an American, I understand there’s inherent value in continuity, and perhaps the existence of the monarchy galvanizes National identity – but it’s very expensive, and doesn’t impact day to day operations of the government…
Just curious of your thoughts?
Bec215 – for me it’s preferable in the UK to a presidential system, and I’m not alluding to anything U.S, or elsewhere. The British PM is in a unique position, not quite presidential and constitutionally bound to consult with the monarch. Seems to suit the British people and until QEII’s recent demise would have been widely considered to work well.
W&K over the last 13 years, regrettably, can now be seen to have underperformed v senior royals historically. That’s a serious problem for the future of the institution.
I guess distils to: on past performance it’s worked well and has been considered to have given good value. On past performance.
Sorry for lengthy answer!
I just assumed the mystery lady was someone on his security team
Charles is such a ridiculous figure. I’d like to believe that the monarchy’s days are numbered, but I’ve given up hoping for common sense to prevail … in Britain and in the U.S.
This post is misleading, “limiting the poll to people under-55 isn’t slick…” The National article from which excerpts were drawn states, “Savanta interviewed 2281 UK adults aged 18 and above online between January 5 and 8 2024.” So it appears Savanta properly attempted to reduce bias by group selection and sample size. Beyond that, who knows how much rigor went into getting a representative voting sample in the online poll.
Penny Knatchbull? Chucky’s illegitimate sister? Daddy’s mistress? I have no idea.
Oh how I long for the day, when a headline in the fail reads “Olympus has fallen”, because these idiots think they are gods! They are just people and not very pleasant (I’m being very polite) people at that! “they are a family of adulterers, liars, thieves and air heads. The only thing that runs that runs true to form is the nepotism and game playing.
So whilst I agree Graham might have been a tiny bit manipulative with the figures, it makes a change from the glaringly obvious lieing that these papers do over just how popular the band of brigands is!
KFC and the Escort can take responsibility for where the monarchy is now. Once they started leaking all of those stories (lies) to the media about Princess Di, they created a relationship with the bm that will ultimately sink the monarchy. QE2’s ‘never complain, never explain’ creed worked to hold a mystic about the Firm. The mystic was frayed and has continued to unravel to the present–only the leaks and lies have gotten worse and aimed at anyone and everyone.
C&C created the bm environment and lost control of it long ago. The fact that WanK did not stay far away from that tells us what we need to know about them. This is what will ultimately sink the entire family.
I think the lady might be Camilla’s sister, but that is just a guess.
I hope it all gets turned into museums in my lifetime.
If Charles goes in 10-15 years, William could trim everything back, easily live on the hidden billions they have. He could do a quarterly “message from King William + Xmas speech” for years and nothing else. Which, I think William would really enjoy. He wants the PR, the $$, the celeb of King, not the work. He has proven that by how few official engagements he does.
The upside of this for the BRF, if Will is King for even 20 years, maybe George, Charlotte and Louis can live their lives as non working, private citizens. That would be better for all of them.
I can not picture what society will be like in 30 years. I think the Monarchy should have closed down with Queen Elizabeth.
I live in a really right wing UK town. Yet even here everyone I know is asking the same question- is Charles one of the four names redacted from the Epstein files?
I wouldn’t be surprised if he was at Epstein’s Island and heavily involved in the criminality. The royals are despicable crooks who don’t see anything wrong with their members taking part in paedophilia, rape and trafficking, and see themselves as above the law – and of course successfully lobbied the government to be so.
They also help uphold an entirely toxic class system that breeds massive inequality in this country. They hoard wealth they don’t deserve like dragons. Their finances are beyond dodgy, having come by it through the most underhand and unfair means. We need to get rid of these monsters asap.