King Charles III’s recent cancer diagnosis and subsequent health struggles will not stop anti-royalists from calling for the end of the British monarchy, pressure group Republic says.
The group, which is campaigning for a replacement British head of state to replace the monarch, says the end of Queen Elizabeth II’s record-breaking reign in 2022 has strengthened its cause.
The group’s chief executive Graham Smith told AFP last year was “a year of transformation”.
He added that “excessive” media coverage of Charles’ cancer battle and speculation about its impact would strengthen their case for abolishing the centuries-old system.
“Obviously we are sensitive to the fact that he has cancer, but the problem is with the facility,” he told AFP in a recent interview.
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“There are bigger issues than individuals.”
Mr Smith believes “big” royal news such as births, deaths, marriages and coronations brings the monarchy to the fore and few Britons like what they see.
Prince William and Duchess Kate, the heir to the throne, are among the most popular members of the royal family, according to a poll.
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But Mr Smith downplays the impact on the couple of the increased attention that Mr William will have as he carries out some of Mr Charles’ official duties.
“I don’t think William is particularly vulnerable to criticism than his father,” Smith argued.
Long a fringe group in Britain, the group called for reform in the wake of Elizabeth’s death, the biggest change to the monarchy in a generation.
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The Republic ramped up its propaganda campaign ahead of Charles’s landmark coronation last May. The strong crackdown also resulted in their increased popularity.
Police arrested Smith and five other group members ahead of a planned protest along the route, and ultimately released them without charge.
The police response to the incident drew widespread criticism, with Mr Smith suing the Metropolitan Police for false arrest.
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He said the Republic had seen a “significant” increase in income and membership since the Queen’s death in September 2022.
“(That) September was one of our biggest months since we started, and it just snowballed from there,” Smith said.
Last year’s revenue was nearly 600,000 pounds (approximately $750,000), 2022’s revenue is 286,000 pounds, the year before that it was 106,000 pounds, and the number of paid members has increased to 10,000 and now 140,000. Free supporters have also joined.
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“The monarchy is rapidly losing support,” Smith said, noting that two polls last month showed an increase in Republican sentiment.
YouGov recorded 45% supporting the monarchy and 31% supporting an elected head of state. It comes weeks after a Republic-commissioned Savanta poll also found less than half of respondents supported the agency.
“This is huge,” Smith said at the time. “Royalists have spent years claiming that the monarchy has the support of the nation. That is clearly no longer the case.”
Gideon Skinner, head of political research at polling firm Ipsos, acknowledged that the royal family’s popularity has fluctuated in recent decades.
But surveys show it still maintains strong public support, he added.
“There are positive aspects for the royal family,” he said.
“People generally say King Charles is doing as well as expected… (and) the Prince and Princess of Wales remain quite popular.”
But Skinner pointed out that young people are not primarily associated with the monarchy and are clearly “more republican.”
An Ipsos poll last September found that nearly one in four people aged 18 to 34 supported the elected head of state, compared to just 15% of those over 55.
He said gaining support from that group was a “more important issue” for monarchists.
Smith explained that part of the reason for the increase in Republican support is a series of controversies.
This includes the scandal surrounding the king’s younger brother, Prince Andrew. Last year’s coronation was expensive. And there are fears that taxpayer funding for the monarchy is set to increase by 45 per cent from 2025.
Smith dismissed suggestions that Charles was a reformer as “a fever dream of royalists, pundits and so-called experts”.
William and Catherine, known as Kate, are in their early 40s and are seen as representing a younger, more dynamic future for the institution.
However, the heads of the republic are more critical, especially regarding the number of tasks they perform.
Last year, The Guardian reported that Duchess Kate, who is recovering from abdominal surgery, was attending “one of the fewest events of any living royal”.
“The idea that they’re young and knowledgeable is wrong,” Smith says.
He noted that polls suggest some ambivalence towards the couple, adding: “Most people don’t have an opinion of their own, but that is very telling in itself.” .
“If they become the primary focus, I think all of these issues will come to the surface.”
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