REUTERS: Only a minority of Britons under 50 support the monarchy

[TallerSally]

The chart below, along with the unprecedented level of social media (and even royalty!) mocking around Katespiracy and Katephotogate, could send a chill down the RF's spine.

Whilst 70% of those aged 65+ and 50% of the 50-64 (the demographic on MN?) support the monarchy, this drops to 30% among the 25-49 and ONLY 19% among the 18-24s - YouGov Jan 24 data.

Some will say "that's nowt new!" But with TikTok, X and other SM having unprecedented reach (far more than mainstream media) and cultivating literally thousands of GenZ and Millennial mini-influencers, and with the RF in its current state of turmoil (some of it illness-related, some not, incl. Prince William being largely MIA, the RF's reluctance to deal with Prince Andrew and his grifting ex-wife, Rose Hanbury and extra child (!!) rumours, the casting-out and continued vilification of M&H, the embarrassment that is uncle Gary, etc etc), are comparisons to a decade ago going to be helpful in predicting what this means for the RF in the future? I doubt it.

We all know the billionaire RF continue to sustain their taxpayer and IHT exemption-funded luxury lives thanks to the public's goodwill, hence they employ loads of professional PR people to do their comms. But if there's anything recent events have shown, KP in particular suck at it, with the KP comms team the subject of derision and ridicule around the globe.

It's easy to say "they've weathered worse", but the past isn't a guarantor of the future. I'm sure Boris Johnson also thought he could lie to the public forever... until one day, the tide turned. Not saying this is an identical situation, but the recent lies emanating from KP (I'm sorry, issuing a fake 'proof of life' photo is equivalent to telling a lie) are part of a culture of secrecy and public manipulation.

And consider this: last August, the above numbers were:
80% of those aged 65+ and 67% of the 50-64s support the monarchy, versus 56% among the 25-49s and 37% among the 18-24s. So a drop of 26pp (percentage points) for the 25-49s, and 18pp for the 18-24s.

And who's to say what the numbers will be post-Katephotogate?

https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/uk-monarchy-suffers-an-impairment-its-goodwill-2024-03-13/

No one has a offered a single argument that would convince me that becoming a republic would benefit anyone at all.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/sep/how-have-european-monarchies-survived-test-time

I agree wholeheartedly @derxa !

I had never heard of this Norman Baker before this thread so had to google to educate myself.

He has quite a varied voting record in his MP life doesn't he?
Voting against a stricter asylum system.
Voting against more Welsh and Scottish Parliament powers.
Voting for upping the Undergraduate University fees.
Consistently voted for ending financial support for some 16-19 year olds in training and further education
Generally voted for measures to reduce tax avoidance
Almost always voted for reducing the rate of corporation tax
Almost always voted for higher taxes on plane tickets
Generally voted against greater regulation of gambling
Generally voted against raising welfare benefits at least in line with prices
Almost always voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits
Consistently voted against spending public money to create guaranteed jobs for young people who have spent a long time unemployed
Consistently voted against restricting the provision of services to private patientsby the NHS

I could go on but he seems a bit confused. He doesn't seem to know what he wants.

I agree @derxa I hope it continues though I could understand William and Kate wanting to throw in the towel after the onslaught these past few weeks, hopefully it will all die down and when Kate is back on form they can regroup and come back stronger than ever.

Interesting 🧐 @ChVrches!

There's been so much tattle on here - I don't know what sources people use but so much of it is unsavory.

So knock the man that wrote a book you probably haven't read?
His voting record is nothing to do with his book
Read it and tell us what you think maybe....

If the RF is so irrelevant why does it dominate so many headlines and news bulletins? Perhaps it's all an establishment conspiracy

It's not my kind of literature but I would say an MP's voting record is a massive insight into his character.

I'd agree with that @ChVrches !

Agree! if they are so irrelevant and have little public support then by default the monarchy would have died a natural death long before now, wether people like it or not, the British Royal Family do hold a worldwide fascination.

🙌🏻

Yeah you'd hate the book

It is illuminating
From someone who knows from the inside
It's not 'literature', it's factual

Thread reminds me of a saying my grandfather taught me. “If you are not liberal when you are young you have no heart. If you are not conservative when you are older you have no brain”

I don’t stake my opinions on what much younger people think. I do enjoy knowing their thoughts and discussing with them if they are able to do so without becoming unhinged, but also remember my own path.

A poll is not a good weathervane for what will happen in the future.

Never mind. Dumb question. Please ignore.

The only way we will change the status quo on something like the RF is either by enough people making a huge fuss, going on protests, etc. that they voluntarily abdicate to keep the peace, which I think is incredibly unlikely.

Making a fuss (especially nowadays when that seems to mean posting on Twitter or Facebook or TikTok) or joining a protest doesn't effect change. Opinion polls won't change it.

The monarch can't just step down, whether because they're tired of it or they're unpopular. We'd need a massive overhaul of our entire democratic model.

When did joining a pressure group go out of fashion? It was all the rage when I was a teenager. If a substantial number of people join a constitutional reform pressure group, and it lobbies the major political parties to commit to electoral reform, and one of those parties includes it in their manifesto... change is possible.

But if thousands of people let off steam on social media about disliking the Royal Family... and then just go back to making dinner... nothing will happen.

And that is why it's probably a safe bet that the UK will still be a constitutional monarchy in the next century.

Young people don't care enough about the Royal Family to protest. The RF are part of the Status Quo. Twenty and Thirty year olds want change with regard to housing, working conditions and of course climate change.
The RF is one of the most popular boards on MN because most posters on MN are older and prosperous. We have the luxury of caring and debating established institutions.
If the disaffected young are going to protest, it will be about the lack of affordable housing, the cost of higher education, the cost of living and if they really want to change things, the huge and inherited problem of climate change.
I don't come into this board very often but I am struck by how supposed republicans are constantly promoting Meghan and Harry to be the future King and Queen. I think their views are prompted by a desire to shock than any real desire for constitutional change. Which political parties are promoting and end to the monarchy as part of their manifesto. It is just not important enough to catch the attention of the voting public.

Young people don't protest about the lack of affordable housing or the cost of higher education. It's Gaza and Climate Change.
The age group 18-25 is the group least likely to vote. So even if they're not in favour of an hereditary monarchy, they're unlikely to do anything about it.

I agree with you, @Brabican about how supposed republicans on here are ardent fans of Harry and Meghan. It makes no sense to me, if you're against royalty, surely that's all royalty?

I don't come into this board very often but I am struck by how supposed republicans are constantly promoting Meghan and Harry to be the future King and Queen.

I must be on the wrong threads, because I haven’t seen a single post doing this? Not even as a joke…

Can anyone confidently assert that this will always remain the case?

A pp observed that they sensed a shift in the discourse even on these MN RF boards, which have become almost unrecognisable from just a few years ago.

Far more irreverence towards the RF and their comms teams and media operations, far more derision and mockery, at levels which would have been unthinkable just recently. Some of it frankly shocking - the numerous Kate threads and even a discussion about whether Prince William had an illegitimate child with Rose Hanbury.

Everyone will have their hypotheses as to why the shift. Mine include of course people being fed up of being taken for granted by an arrogant RF and their comms teams (particularly KP).

But I suspect another factor specific to MN could be a shifting demographic on these RF boards. Somewhat younger (ie in their 30s rather than 60s) posters who are also able to go on TikTok, and who have been drawn into getting interested in the RF by the Katephotogate fiasco. Who are now “all in”, as the Daily Show skit put it.

Who knows where this younger generation will go in terms of their engagement with the RF?

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/03/15/world/kate-middleton-news-controversy-cec

Ah yes - stage two of resisting change .

Stage one is deny there is a problem .

Stage two - you acknowledge there is a problem but it’s ’too difficult ‘ to do anything’s about it

We put men on the moon, we can manage

It’s an interesting question. Just off the top of my head, if you look back in history to the latter part of George III’s reign, to the Prince Regent (George IV) or even to Victoria herself, there has always been quite vile and scurrilous gossip about the royal family. I am not saying it is justified, just that it has always existed.

The difference now is that news about the RF is disseminated globally and any old bod can transfer the wierd and wonderful thoughts that once resided in their head, or were exchanged across the village square, on to a screen on giant social media platforms.

I guess the other change is that it is much easier now to rally individuals to a cause and organise protests; eg Republic UK are organising a respectful protest early on Maundy Thursday at Worcester Cathedral if anyone is interested 😉😀

Up the revolution 💪😃

Seriously though, I agree there is a shift in discourse, but I think it reflects a shift in discourse in wider society on all subjects tbh. There’s less deference generally in society from the young to the old, which is a big change from when I was raised in the 70s when we were taught to be respectful. I think respect has to be earned now and it goes both ways, which is generally a good thing.