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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

How do we stop being a constitutional monarchy??

121 replies

Griefmonster · 19/09/2021 15:26

Inspired by another thread.... What steps would need to be taken to stop having a monarch as our head of state?

Does it need to be a referendum and then declare a republic? how would a law be passed? What are the steps? And when was the last time we had a reliable poll on public opinion? And any mid-point steps between what we have now and no monarchy at all?

OP posts:

WhatWouldKalindaDo · 19/09/2021 16:34

I would imagine similar steps to Brexit.

Boris would have to call a referendum. He would need support of parliament which I don't think he would have, certainly not at the moment anyway.

I would love us to become a Republic. When the Queen dies and Charles takes over, will be when people start seriously considering it.

If there is enough public interest it could happen.

jimmyhill · 19/09/2021 17:03

Elect a government on a manifesto promise to abolish the monarchy

Simple as that.

The sticky bit is figuring out how to choose a head of state in a process that works for all nations in the Union. Have fun with that.

WoozySnoozy · 19/09/2021 17:04

Whats your AIBU?

Original poster

Griefmonster · 19/09/2021 19:37

Yes I can see why it's never going to happen then... (In my lifetime at least).

OP posts:

CorrBlimeyGG · 19/09/2021 19:42

I don't think any mainstream political party would take an anti monarchy stance because they'd be branded unpatriotic and all that crap. Unfortunately we're still being played to an extremely populist agenda.

FlorenceWintle · 19/09/2021 19:45

I suppose a referendum by a party voted in on the basis of promising it.

Will never happen though, there’s been no appetite for it since Charles I!

pigsDOfly · 19/09/2021 20:11

Unfortunately, I can't see it happening tbh.

Agree with pps you'd need a government in power who were voted in with that as part of their manifesto.

I think the monarchy are still popular enough with enough of the electorate for that never to happen; look at the crowds that turn out for things like royal weddings.

I do think there's an appetite for a paring down of the whole bunch though; getting rid of all the hangers on would be a good start.

Perhaps, several generations down the line things might change, but it's going to take some almighty shift in attitudes to achieve it.

MyOhMySimon · 19/09/2021 20:23

As much as I think it should happen, I really don't see it happening. Not anytime soon.
While it would be easier for a government in power voted in with that as part of their manifesto to carry out, I can't see any politcal party ready to whip that up as part of their manifesto in the first place.

As a pp already said, they'd be seen as traitors, etc. Or maybe not but they can't know until they try and that's the fear. Who'd want to try? Who wants to begin? If it goes bad and the public is mostly against it, they've lost before they even started.

It will take a brave 'un, not to mention the inevitable roadblocks they'd face from within the upper echelon.

ThinWomansBrain · 19/09/2021 20:26

I'm not a monarchist, but hard to see it happening.
Possibly there'll more sensible conversation around the situation nationally when the queen or charles dies - or scotland goes it alone.

Mintjulia · 19/09/2021 20:38

Thinking rationally, would you want any of Cameron, Clegg, Blair, Brown, Corbyn or Boris as head of state ?

Christ help us. I'll settle for Charlie thanks.

AngeloMysterioso · 19/09/2021 20:41

@Mintjulia

Thinking rationally, would you want any of Cameron, Clegg, Blair, Brown, Corbyn or Boris as head of state ?

Christ help us. I'll settle for Charlie thanks.

Interesting that you referred to all by their surnames except “Boris”…

Suzysunflower · 19/09/2021 20:44

I'll settle for Charlie, Es and whizz to forget about this 'royal' family lot.

StarryStarrySocks · 19/09/2021 20:45

Also interesting that you missed May out of that list! I wonder what the possible reason for that could have been...

Mintjulia · 19/09/2021 20:45

Interesting. I hadn't thought about it but yes you're right. I think of Boris more as a cartoon character. without a surname.

MyOhMySimon · 19/09/2021 20:45

I think possibly after Charles or during his reign (who knows?), the public interest will wane faster.

Young people nowadays are mostly indifferent to them, except some of those whose parents still make a big deal of the RF and drag them to places to catch a glimpse. I think these ones will definitely cause a bigger and wider-reaching "Who are these people and what are we still doing with them?" stir when their time comes.

As to your OP, I think it would have to be a Brexit-type referendum but I'd hate to be a member of the RF sitting and waiting for the British public to decide my fate.

As it happens, I just found a closed petition for this very referendum. It needed 10,000 signatures but got 7,506. Not sure if I'm surprised or not.

AlexanderArnold · 19/09/2021 20:48

The choice of a head is state is absolutely not limited to elected politicians like Boris, Jeremy et al. In fact, they shouldn't even be allowed to stand. There is a much wider range of people who have made tremendous contributions to society, often in quiet ways, who would be the talent pool from which to draw.

PicsInRed · 19/09/2021 20:48

@Mintjulia

Thinking rationally, would you want any of Cameron, Clegg, Blair, Brown, Corbyn or Boris as head of state ?

Christ help us. I'll settle for Charlie thanks.

The former could be voted out when they got too full of their own brilliance

Royalty can't be voted out no matter how dire, and therein lies the problem.

TrufflyPig · 19/09/2021 20:48

Has any country ever gotten rid of their monarchy without a violent revolution?

I mean I'm game for storming the gates but it's not ideal 😂.

Ifailed · 19/09/2021 20:48

Why would we need a 'head of state' - it's purely ceremonial and another layer of wealth & power that has little connection to the vast majority?

Windyone · 19/09/2021 20:50

Better the devil you know. President Blair? I’d just stick with what we’ve got

PicsInRed · 19/09/2021 20:51

I'd love to see the looks on the faces of Australia, Canada, NZ et al if we were to abruptly remove the monarch.

Would they move to Ottawa? Canberra how depressing, ok maybe Sydney?

TrufflyPig · 19/09/2021 20:54

I'd love to see the looks on the faces of Australia, Canada, NZ et al if we were to abruptly remove the monarch

Australia will give zero fucks, they most likely will have another referendum when the Queen dies.

DrSbaitso · 19/09/2021 20:54

It would have to be dissolved by an incredibly complex Act of Parliament, maybe even more than one, that would need to get royal assent.

Despite how it looks in threads like this, most people in the UK either like the monarchy or at the least don't mind it so much as to prioritise its dissolution above everything else. The number of people worldwide who tune into its royal weddings alone is telling.

It will change, but it won't collapse. Though it's true that it benefits enormously from the popularity of the Queen.

TheHateIsNotGood · 19/09/2021 20:54

Either through political process or because at some point an inherited Monarch will willingly abolish the Monarchy themselves. The latter seems more likely methinks.

TrufflyPig · 19/09/2021 20:57

Either through political process or because at some point an inherited Monarch will willingly abolish the Monarchy themselves. The latter seems more likely methinks

I think this the more likely outcome too. I am resigned to not seeing the monarchy abolished in my lifetime.

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