Which way would you vote in a referendum on the monarchy?

[O11]

Now that the Queen is gone, if there were ever to be a referendum, would you vote to keep or abolish?

I would vote to abolish.

I think the funeral has probably made them more popular and if this statistic of 63% of the worlds population watching is correct then their current approval ratings are probably pretty high worldwide.

Keep, I love the Royal Family & our traditions

On the fence, but if we did abolish, wouldn't we just end up with some awful president instead? Our political system is in enough of a mess without throwing in a PM/president power struggle.

Abolish.

The whole thing seems so strange when you think about it. It just doesn't seem right that Charles is now king, just because he was born!

Although I do realise that's how it works!

I do like many of the traditions though and am interested in them to a certain extent.

That statistic is incorrect
Think about it for a minute and you'll realise it's nonsense

fullfact.org/news/Queen-funeral-viewing-figures/

Don't be daft! I was in Qatar during the Queen's funeral and there was barely any coverage of the service outside of the BBC World Service!

According to The Guardian, 29m people watched the service which was fewer than the Euro Finals (despite every business being closed for the Queen's funeral).

I thought I read billions watched???

Billions watched worldwide, a lot of people in certain countries would have watched like America, 29m was just in the UK. I doubt people in the Middle East would have been interested unless you were ex pat.

The Guardian would say that, it’s republican bias is blatant. How did it reach that figure? It obviously doesn’t include people who were there in person (the crowds were huge), watched online, in cinemas and in other community facilities.

I don't doubt that 2/3 of the world's population saw at least part of the funeral either live or in highlight form on the news etc. Not that 2/3 of people watched the whole thing live. It would be on in the middle of the night for some of Asia and very early in the morning for the West Coast of America.

The Guardian would say that, it’s republican bias is blatant. How did it reach that figure?

Is the BBC a source that you'd be more comfortable with?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-62966616

***

For anyone else, the billions/63% of the world figure has been debunked, eg, R4's More or Less. PP has posted a useful link above.

The BBC says 32.5m viewers watched at least three minutes of its coverage.

That figure doesn’t include watchers of the 50 other channels that broadcast it. It also says its figures don’t include the on line or communal viewers I’ve already mentioned. Beware of misleading headlines!

If only we could have a referendum. Abolish. 100%.

Not now, no. Even republicans knew there was little appetite for a republic when Elizabeth was alive, although that sentiment was gradually changing toward her descendants. How many people have you heard say 'I like the Queen, but have no time for the rest of them?'

Right now, in the wake of a platinum jubilee we all knew would be a last hurrah and later the funeral, their popularity is riding high on a groundswell of sentimental patriotism and rose-tinted nostalgia. This usually happens whenever this family passes the birth/marriage/death milestones which are run of the mill for everyone else.

After these events, the usually glow fades pretty rapidly. Rose-tinted nostalgia is no basis on which to run a 21st-century democracy. Let the country stomach 5-7 years of Charles III and then see whether public opinion and affection for them remains the same.

I'm willing to bet that it won't.

I also hope we will have a referendum but agree that we need a few more years of King Charles.

Keep

I'm not sure why anyone would think abolish would even come close to winning a referendum at the moment.

I'm not sure why anyone would think abolish would even come close to winning a referendum at the moment

There is an uptick right now, post-Queen, and a large majority of older people are in favour of the monarchy. However, the majority of young people are more in favour of abolishing (YouGov), so time will tell its truth I guess.

So at the moment, no, but I suspect a ref in 30 years time could be successful.

but I suspect a ref in 30 years time could be successful.

Excellent. I’ll be dead by then and you can do what the hell you like after that. As long as I die with a monarchy I’m happy.

I'd like a third option, so keep but so it's really scaled down. No more handouts to certain Royals (Andrew) and for them to be more like Dutch/Belgian RF, e.g. less visible and therefore less of tugging of forelock to them.

It was interesting for me to see as a 51 year old various views on monarchy and Queen's death.

Older people like DM/stepdad - weren't bothered really but when I stayed with my aunt, who's 88, she did want to watch the funeral and was pleased I went to the lying in state.

Various friends/acquaintances, some watched/some didn't, some wanted to come to Lying in State but couldn't due to to time. A few children I know were really upset by Queen's death, probably due to Platinum Jubilee and if they saw the Paddington sketch.

Having seen various behaviour from Charles (yes I know his DM has just died) it does leave a bit of a bitter taste of the mouth as I've read a lot on the Queen's life recently, how she behaved and she was certainly more willing to put on the correct face and behaviour in public. It seems to me that younger Royals are probably torn between behaving properly and staying Royals as they are now or realising (as they should) that people, especially younger people, are far more savvy and see through a lot of the smoke/mirrors about them. The amount of people I saw of a certain age who were very much of the reverential/tugging of forelocks towards the Queen, it disgusted me in a lot of ways.

It also depends for me, with behaviour of RF/royals going forward and I hope they realise this or they should do.

Keep

I wish MN would ban “forelock tugging”. I’ve been on this planet for almost 70 years and never seen it. I’ve never seen “bowing and scraping” or any of the derogatory terms anti monarchists love so much either.

It's just a pathetic attempt to undermine people with other opinions.