How do countries become republican peacefully?

[AgentProvocateur]

What would it take for the U.K. to become a republic, and how would it happen practically? I’m assuming there would be no violent overthrowing of the RF.

@wordler I would like what you suggest. But I do not think that is how it will happen. I think it will be a populist figure who latches in to this issue and uses it to stoke and build on underlying discontent.
The Royal Family remind me of the usual histories of most family businesses. The founder works hard and builds up a successful business - The Queen. The adult children recognise the sacrifices made by parents and have a strong work ethic so continue the work, but not quite as well. Their adult children piss it all up the wall and the business collapses. Obviously there are exceptions, but this is a widely recognised cycle for family businesses.
William does not have the dedication or work ethic to secure the future of the Royal family. He will have a harder reign than his predecessors because of social media. And he may well piss it all up the wall.

It could be argued that they are Monarchies because they are peaceful, not peaceful because they are Monarchies. There is no need to get rid of them so they let them plod along. What those monarchies have done is scaled down significantly, and are still evolving. Ours seems incapable. I think it is unlikely we will get rid of the Monarchy, but I do think that apathy from the public will mean they will have to slim down significantly. And not what we have now, which is fewer people doing fewer engagements but costing more. The big problem with the monarchy is the culture of deference around them. The press, Parliament, and the judiciary do not hold them to account when that is their job. I think we would probably replace them with a ceremonial Head of State like Ireland have rather than a US style. That would hopefully mean dumping the House of Lords too and replacing it with something sensible.

I’m up for recreating the Terror with a guillotine in Trafalgar Square with all peers lining up in order of consequence, and members of the WI looking on as tricoteuses.

A referendum! Because they never cause any division or anger in a country 🤣

Presumably the Irish government put something in place to replace the Monarchy? How did you, as a country, decide what to replace the Monarchy with?

In the UK we'd have to decide first what to replace the Monarchy with (at the moment it is a mechanism - but a very ineffective one) against a rogue Parliament.

I've been a republican all my life. But, having seen referendums on e.g. regional assemblies and proportional representation being voted down and the shambles that was the Brexit referendum (specifically, was put forward as advisory but the idiot who organised it them decided to abide by the vote as if it was mandatory), I don't think the British electorate actually care or understand about their constitution or that the current crop of politicians have the competence for us to replace the Monarchy with something that would work well.

I think a huge benefit would be that all the titles would go, as they do in other countries. They would probably cling onto them as they do in Italy and Greece, etc, much to the disdain of citizens in those countries.
In the US the Commander IC is the President, so a ceremonial President may be able to do that. Agree we would need a cross party consensus to unravel everything over decades. India, the RoI and probably eventually all the Caribbean countries and Commonwealth realms are ditching the British RF, and replacing it with their own. That's different here.

On the contrary. The MAGA mob across the pond have quite enthusiastically embraced the idea of "King Donald". And they can't all be hard of hearing.

The Romans managed to ditch hundreds of years of republicanism too. And we'd be well advised to study how.

@Prydddan The Royal Family do not protect us against a parliament acting illegally. Remember Boris Johnsons prorogation of parliament that the Queen signed? It was the courts that declared it illegal and told Johnson it had to be opened that day.

@SerendipityJane the MAGA mob want to ditch democracy and install a dictatorship. They might manage to. Even democracy is not assured and can be cast aside.

I think it would take the royal family of that country choosing to stand down, which this lot won't do!

Democratically by voting.

Surely you must know this?

Not going to happen in the UK in the foreseeable future. There's no significant desire for it.

Growing up republican (it's a long story) I was told that is was a "silly" idea and that the Queen had some secret powers that protected the British from foreign ideas (or something like that. I may not have listened with much attention).

Yet when it came to the crunch, and the monarch had their chance to refuse to bend to the unlawful excesses of a criminal Prime Minister, we were told "oh no, they can't possibly intervene".

So that's 45 years of bullshit I want a fucking apology for from all the tossers who shut me down with their "magic powers" theory of why the UK needs a monarch.

Whatever you think of the concept of the Commonwealth, what is happening in places like Jamaica is actually worrying, I think. These countries - which are on the verge of demanding independence - are being targeted by China with lots of infrastructure investment etc. It's obvious why this is attractive to developing countries, but the quiet take-over by China is sinister and is already ringing alarm bells.

If membership of the Commonwealth had any impact on people taking Chinese investment then China would make it a condition of investment that they pulled out of the Commonwealth. They don't, because it makes little difference. Jamaica will probably stay part of the Commonwealth they will just be Republican, like India, and most other Commonwealth nations. The Late Queen loved the Commonwealth. William looks like he can't be bothered with it.

Great post

I honestly thought Charles was going to be a breath of fresh air but when it started off with this bloated coronation a warning bell rang in my head

I think it should just be king and queen working members of the royal family whoever that is, and that is it

But most importantly more transparency as far as the finances because it is so murky and hidden it's untrue.
All the Guardian articles that have been investigating for years have shown that
They make the rules and they break the rules

@SerendipityJane I'm with you there!
They are toothless when they want to be but tweak laws to their advantage when it suits them

I know that they don't protect us. A republican, I was desperate for the Queen to put Johnson in his place. (And I hope the current and future King have the backbone to refuse to ever ennoble him.) She didn't, and I'm more a republican than ever.

I just don't think the current electorate or crop of politicians are up to modernising the constitution.

(Glad we can agree on something.)

Agreed.

I can do without a Princess to open the local bowling alley, but I'd like the plank of the constitution that provides the princesses to get stuck in when rogues are messing with the process of government.

Oh god with every passing day I think it’s even more possible than ever that Camilla will be known as the last Queen of England.

It is a political hot potato and no political party will stick their neck out on this. It could be an election loser

I think it will pass to William and Kate. But they may be the last ones.

And, while we're at it, reform the archaic way in which the Duchies that finance the King and the Heir are structured so that you don't get spares and their siblings who are cut out of the family wealth and have to rely on.dad and bro for funding. Allow these mechanisms to be morphed into the sort of trust funds all the other super-wealthy aristo families employ.

The thing is they can't because of who they are. You can't have an unelected head of state overruling an elected government. Because we insist on having a hereditary head of state, we have lost the chance to have someone holding the government to account. All the guff about how hard they work looking through the red boxes. They could tip all the papers into the fire and the only difference it would make would be that they wouldn't have notice of potential legislation they want to exempt themselves from.

I think they might want to be the last.

They could tip all the papers into the fire and the only difference it would make would be that they wouldn't have notice of potential legislation they want to exempt themselves from.

Haha yes. It's just tradition that Charles signs this stuff. I imagine his principal private secretary reads through it all, and says.. your majesty, you might want to look at this one to exempt yourself from

Thank you for a serious, considered reply.