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/

In 1980, it was not long since the law changed to raise the school leaving age from 14 to 16. Teens were viewed as independent young adults at a much younger age than they are now.

Yes, I agree. We were definitely adults at 18, I had classmates who got married at 18, having left school at 16.

1980! My god that is frightening, I remember watching it

For me it was that Diana didn’t know what she was getting herself into, that she was marrying a man who was never going to love her. It’s not the age so much as the lack of life experience. Clearly Charles was having his hand forced. Both victims of hundreds of years of expectations and an institution with no moral values. Because institutions don’t have morals.

Diana knew what was expected of her. Not much education, moving in royal circles, keeping herself "tidy" (her words). She wasn't going to have a career or marry a man without land.
When she wobbled, her family talked her out of her concerns and said it was too late to pull out.

19 is very young to get married, yes some people do it and make a success of it, I definitely wasn't mature enough at that age. It also depends on your upbringing and life experiences, people can be very naive at 19

It must also have been very difficult to deal with the press, he face was on the front of just about every magazine and paper

I didn’t know she wobbled!

It's in the Morton book, which she pretty much dictated.

Didn't Diana say that she wobbled because she realised that she had only met Charles a handful of times and had a sensation of doom about it? Before that she had spent time with the royal family, generally who liked her because she enjoyed being outdoors. But I don't get the impression that she and Charles had spent much time alone together?

Dollenganger

I live in Worcester and there was not a large crowd at all. I was surprised to see a lot of resentment towards her because of Diana. Still, after all these years. In our local paper reports there were loads of people complaining that it should have been Diana.

I was surprised - I thought people had forgiven her. I like her actually even though I'm not a royalist.

Oh that's so depressing, Dollenganger. I hate baying mobs - whatever baying mobs are baying, I'm against it on principle!!

Camilla is doing a tough job at the moment by any standards, and I salute what you say about not being a royalist but liking her - I think many people feel the same.

What kind of people choose one of the most important UK religious festivals, at a place of worship, where someone whose husband and step d-in-law are battling cancer and who's really up against it in terms of public duties now, at the age when most of us would be putting our feet up...to be obnoxious??

Their mums must be proud of them...

Her family pretty much told her, when she expressed concern ‘that her face was on the tea towels’ and to plough on.

She may have been a young woman at 19 but at that age some of us were in war zones.

She had no reason to trust the RF - she would have been unlikely to have known them really well. As doppelganger says, she probably didn’t spend a huge amount of time with Charles either.

But she should have been able to trust her own family when she had doubts.

It is hard not to draw parallels with other royal marriages through the ages. It was often engineered to be of benefit to the families concerned and not necessarily just a celebration of love.

I do think that was the case here but as Suzi said, I think both will have gone into it with their eyes open to what was expected of them both - and not necessarily what either of them in their hearts wanted.

Aye Cantata. 👏🏽

A woman that was once is hated is now holding it all together

Spot on, @CoffeeCantata

@CoffeeCantata I think the crowd inside the cathedral watching their friends and family receive the maundy money were no doubt very appreciative of her being there. One of our family members received maundy money years ago from QEII, and it's a lovely occasion and celebration of those who serve their parishes. The BBC says there were about 200 people outside the cathedral braving the rain. I saw about half a dozen yellow republic flags and a small group chanting, and ladies singing over them with God Save The King. Several thousands turned up for Camilla's Shresbury visit the day before, ad she was being cheered and greeted warmly from the TV coverageye. I think the republicans being there yesterday in the circumstances was pretty bad taste, but there you go, I suppose they will say that there's no better time to get their point across, when the current monarch and future queen (and most popular member of the RF) are out of action. They probably sniff an unprecedented opportunity and are passionate enough about their cause to take it, no matter how unfortunate it looks to some of us.

Thank you, agree, Happy Easter to you too AliceOlive and to everyone on here!

🐣🐰😃

Can we open our Easter eggs now?

No. It's Good Friday. You should be fasting 😉

@SuziQuinto Oh < discreetly wipes chocolate from face>

Mymilkshakebringsallthepapstomycar · Today 13:14
@CoffeeCantata I think the crowd inside the cathedral watching their friends and family receive the maundy money were no doubt very appreciative of her being there. One of our family members received maundy money years ago from QEII, and it's a lovely occasion and celebration of those who serve their parishes. The BBC says there were about 200 people outside the cathedral braving the rain. I saw about half a dozen yellow republic flags and a small group chanting, and ladies singing over them with God Save The King

Thanks, Milkshake - that's cheered me up!

Hardcore republicans seem to be very small in number, but capable of making a heck of a noise. I wonder how many onlookers it impresses, though?

(Not talking about republicans who behave in a civilised way - they're entitled to their views, but this was a display of bad taste on several levels which I'm sure won't advance their cause, except amongst a demographic they probably wouldn't want to attract.)

Naughty!

Also, I did note that those republicans with the placards were not arrested. Free speech 👌

I notice that the local Church of England is having an Easter Egg Hunt in the park for children - today!
I'm tempted to go over there and tell them that they'll burn in hell.