Panellists at Labour for a Republic’s fringe event in Liverpool this week suggested public opinion is turning against The Firm, with one claiming the UK becoming a republic is ‘inevitable’.
Meghan and Harry at the 2022 Platinum Jubilee. (Image: Getty)
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have changed the public’s perception of the Royal Family, an academic who backs abolishing the monarchy has suggested.
Dr Laura Clancy a Lecturer in Media at Lancaster University made the remarks at Labour for a Republic’s fringe event in Liverpool as Keir Starmer’s party held their conference in the city, GB News reports.
Dr Clancy, whose new book “What is the Monarchy For?” is due to be published next year, also claimed that recent events within the family have started to change how the Firm is regarded by the British people, especially the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
“There’s something quite interesting about having this conversation now, particularly after the Queen,” she said while speaking on the panel.
“Since the Queen died, I don’t know how everyone else feels, but I’ve never asked as many questions about royal wealth or funding, it rocketed.
The late Queen died in September 2022. (Image: Getty)
“The tide is certainly starting to change with a King who is not as popular, who doesn’t have the same links the Queen had to World War Two and a very British sense of nostalgia that we seem to have.
“That is starting to change the discourse slightly. I think what has also changed the discourse is other things happening in the family. Harry and Meghan changed the conversation.
“They brought in questions about gender and race, which hadn’t previously been discussed. Certainly not to the level that they brought those questions in.”
Another panellist said they thought it was “only a matter of time” before Britain decided to do away with the constitutional monarchy.
Labour for a Republic has published a Campaign Guide that it says “sets out reforms that our Labour government could and should, take if it wants to create a fairer and more democratic society”, according to its website.
Among the recommendations is extending the Equalities Act to give more rights to people working for Royals.
Harry and Meghan at the 2024 ESPY Awards in Hollywood. (Image: Getty)
“Right now, hundreds of workers are not protected under existing legislation from racial, gender, disability and other forms of discrimination, simply because they work in royal households,” the organisation claims.
“Polling commissioned by Labour for a Republic shows that the public overwhelmingly agree that royal workers should be protected by the Equalities Act.”
It’s also pushing for increased transparency by including the Crown within the Freedom of Information Act, a review of how much funding the Firm receives and modernising the oath of allegiance for MPs, which currently requires Parliamentarians to pledge their loyalty to The Crown.
Rather than calling for the immediate abolishment of the monarchy, the group argues a “serious debate” is needed “on what sort of society we want and what sort of head of state that would need”.
Newly-elected Poole MP Neil Duncan-Jones, who chaired the event, called on Labour Party members to renew the debate in local associations and trade unions to encourage “a proper discussion” about democracy in the country, the outlet reports.
Labour for a Republic’s guide includes several opinion polls indicating The Firm’s popularity is on the wane, with one claiming that a mere 45 per cent of Britons support keeping the monarchy, with one in three saying they would prefer to have an elected head of state.
Their figures are in stark contrast to a recent YouGov poll carried out in August, in which 65 per cent of respondents said they are in favour of keeping the Royal Family.