Abolish the Monarchy: Why we should and how we will

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It isn't! Evidence points to some royal weddings actually having a negative impact on inbound tourism. They are, as the late Hilary Mantel wrote in her superb essay “Royal Bodies”, like pandas: “Pandas and royal persons alike are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment.” It is typical that the then prime minister, David Cameron, on being told of the contents of Mantel’s essay, condemned it without – I am certain – reading it. She called the way we talk about monarchy “a discourse empty of content, mouthed rather than spoken”.

But Toynbee says that in countries like Ireland, presidents have a different but equally as dignified role, showing that a king isn't required. What is wrong with a system like Ireland's, Moore is asked. ​ the royals hold the power to do things that they shouldn’t (by political and moral standards), and don’t hold the power that a Head of State (by political standards, at least) should have They say Britain should be proud to have the mother of parliaments, to be a shining beacon of democracy and an example to other nations. But there's an elephant in the room. The person who spoke this truth has many obscure titles. He is for one the patron of the aforementioned Islamic centre.monarchy is by its very nature anti-democratic and not suited to a country which prides itself as a world leader in political rights and freedoms The monarchies we have today are in countries that had long-run stable transitions,” says Ansell. “Sweden, Norway, Holland, UK – they do lots of things right, and they don’t have lots of horrible revolutions and moments of dictatorships. If your political system took the power away from someone who had absolute power, but was able to leave them in place, that suggests you have a pretty stable system.” Constitutional monarchies, in particular, “fare the best,” he says, even when compared “not just to all republics but to a type that looks kind of like a constitutional monarchy, a parliamentary democracy,” one with an elected but essentially powerless figurehead president. Only saddos like me, the sort of people who tell small children Santa isn’t real, moan about the monarchy as well as the Lords now. (Admittedly, the Lords often has better discussions than anything that goes on in the Commons – but then so do most sixth forms.) We all know how the argument goes: you don’t like hereditary privilege? Well, do you think an elected head of state would be better? Even at 14, I assumed most people would not want to live in the utterly infantilised state of being a subject. At one stage, I went to lots of meetings about republicanism and dry constitutional shakedowns and I was patronised by experts who told me Diana’s disruption was not the right kind: she was disturbing the narrative by not accepting its rules, that Charles could have an affair. The way to get rid of the monarchy had to be highbrow and political; it should never be personal. Or, actually, cultural.

Gary Younge is a journalist, author, broadcaster and academic whose most recent book is “Dispatches from the Diaspora” (Faber & Faber) Graham Smith is the Chief Executive of Republic, which is a campaigning group that calls for the abolition of the British Monarchy and it’s replacement with a democratic alternative. So in the United Kingdom we appear to have a head of state who recognises Muslims as integral to Europe when, across the rest of Europe, states are making it clear that Muslims are indeed “a thing apart”, with bans on Islamic clothing, on minarets, and prime ministers who call Muslims “invaders” (these examples all taken from republics). There is Margaret, the late Queen’s sister, forbidden to marry Peter Townsend because he was divorced. She could have insisted but would have lost her royal title. If you have been taught only to be a princess, it must be hard to leave, and she didn’t.In such republics, if you don’t belong to that ethnicity, there will be questions over your loyalty, your suitability. If you’re Jewish in Hungary, your government is constantly casting aspersions on you because, “Can you be a real Hungarian?” If you’re a German from the Turkish diaspora, it’s an ordeal getting a German passport – less than half of German Turks have one – because, “Are you a real German?” Tanjil Rashid is a journalist and filmmaker. He has recently produced documentaries on the war in Ukraine, Isis and US politics, and writes for publications including the Financial Times, the Times and the Washington Post The launch will include a Q&A session and drinks afterwards, as well as a chance to get your copy signed by Graham. Number two: monarchy is a pressure valve. It means that we have two forms of politics. We have the combative, punchy stuff – politicians do that – and we have a benign force that reflects the nation to itself. When, in France, the head of state lays a wreath, half of the people standing by hate the person laying the wreath. In Britain when the Queen or King lays a wreath nobody has a problem with it. Having been around the world with the royal family for many years, I have seen that the stability and the continuity we get is something we take for granted. In eastern Europe in the Nineties, for example, they were bowled over to see the Queen. For them she was the ultimate symbol of stability – and our monarchy still is, by the way. Unlike Smith, I don’t predict or want the demise of the Crown in the foreseeable future. I do, however, think our political landscape is richer for protest movements like his – police, take note – and that our constitutional monarchy is potentially stronger when it’s tuned into its most vociferous opponents.