On 12 January, the anti-monarchy group Republic delivered court documents to king Charles at his home in Sandringham, Norfolk. They show that prince Andrew ‘spent weeks’ at the home of wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, receiving daily massages.
A poll shows that 48 percent of Britons want the king to end his silence on the allegations against his brother, against 32 percent who don’t want him to speak.
Another Republic poll in mid-January showed that 31 percent of people…
In this book, Graham Smith argues that the assumptions that allow monarchy to continue – that it is popular, profitable and does no real harm – are all false.
Beginning with ‘profitable’, Smith tackles royal tourism, patronage and schedules.
Not only is the monarchy not good for tourism (an oft-quoted figure that it generates £500mn a year in tourism revenue has long been debunked), but the royals are also phenomenally expensive, costing taxpayers around £345mn a year.
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On 23 September, the anti-monarchist group, Republic, held the first-ever republican protest inside Buckingham Palace, after a group of ‘tourists’ revealed T-shirts that spelled out ‘N-O-T M-Y K-I-N-G’.
If you are willing to protest against the monarchy on the streets of London, Republic wants you to sign their pledge to ‘make our objection loud, visible and impossible to ignore’ when the new king attends the state opening of parliament in Central London on 7 November:
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The Metropolitan police took ‘swift’ action on 6 May to shut down protests at the coronation of king Charles, in a series of arrests that showed how little the idea of ‘policing by consent’ now means in practice.
In a classic example of why negotiating with police is fraught with risk, weeks of ‘dialogue’ in advance of the coronation by the campaign group Republic failed to prevent the immediate arrests of several of its members who were accused of having equipment used to lock-on. [‘…
Three days ahead of the coronation of Charles III, the new Public Order Bill, with many restrictions on the right to protest, became law. The anti-monarchist campaign, Republic, and other groups, including Extinction Rebellion, were sent a letter by the home office warning that these new powers had been brought forward to prevent ‘disruption at major sporting and cultural events’.
Describing the letter as intimidatory, Republic announced that it would not be deterred from protesting…
On 9 January, charges were dropped against Symon Hill, campaigns manager of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), in connection with his anti-royal protest on 11 September.
Coming across the proclamation of king Charles III in Central Oxford by chance, Symon shouted out: ‘Who elected him?’
He was arrested, taken to a police van, then de-arrested. In December, he was charged with ‘disorderly behaviour’, before having the charge dropped in January.
Symon is considering legal…
During the outpourings of grief for the late queen, Elizabeth II, who died on 8 September, a few brave souls attempted to show dissent.
Symon Hill was walking home from church in Oxford on 11 September when he passed a proclamation ceremony for the new king, Charles III. He heard a speaker tell the crowd to accept Charles as their ‘only lawful and rightful liege lord’.
In response, Symon shouted: ‘Who elected him?’. The crowd cried: ‘Shut up!’ Symon was arrested and handcuffed…
