The crown has been placed on King Charles III‘s head and he is now officially coronated. The world’s media descended on London for the occasion, though many have skipped over reporting that not everyone is happy at having a new King to reign over them. With Britain experiencing collapsing public services, an inflation-driven cost of living crisis, and accusations widespread of political corruption — to say nothing of the inherently anti-democratic idea of a hereditary ruler — many have had enough.
With ample drama happening during the coronation, the authorities tried their best to quell the ones happening on the streets. British republicans (who we want to underline are literal republicans and have no connection to the GOP) gathered under Nelson’s Column in London’s Trafalgar Square during the Coronation to say one thing loud and clear: “Not my King.”
With this has come a whole bunch of controversy: the head of the UK’s leading anti-monarchy group Republic Graham Smith was arrested at the protest, there have been clashes with ardent Royalists and protestors at the scene, and police have intervened to remove banners claiming they consist of a “public order offense”.
This is somewhat ironic, as it comes against the backdrop of King Charles swearing to “foster an environment in which people of all faiths and beliefs may live freely.”
I was at the scene for We Got This Covered as it was all going down and spoke with many of the protestors and those who’d rather they had stayed at home.
A coronation under a cloud
World-famous activist Peter Tatchell was spotted at the protest, who’s known for his decade-long crusade to fight for LGBTQ+ rights and is one of the vocal protestors against the monarch.
“In a democracy our head of state, the highest public office in the land should be elected by the people and based on merit. Not inherited and imposed on the people without their consent.”
I asked him how the protest was going:
“It’s been outrageous the way the police have behaved today. They gave us assurances that a peaceful protest would be permitted, but this morning they arrested the head of Republic, the campaign for an elected head of state, and confiscated all the official republican placards. On top of that, they’ve erected this gigantic barrier right in front of the republican protest so we cannot be seen by the King and the Queen Consort. That’s an infringement on our democratic right to protest.”
Just prior to this, a scuffle broke out in the crowd as police officers surged in to remove a banner, dragging it away from a very ticked-off crowd. This was one of three large banners at the event, so I spoke to Kevin John, who was holding one of the others.
“Well, they arrested Graham Smith the nominal leader of the Republic. That doesn’t surprise me, but I’m just determined to hold the banner up even higher. What sort of state do we live in where stating something is a “public order offence”?”
One particularly controversial aspect of the Coronation was the appearance of the disgraced Prince Andrew, who last year paid a financial settlement of £12 million to Virginia Guiffre, who alleged she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and forced to have sex with his friends, including Prince Andrew (who she says knew she was underage at the time). I spoke to protestor Dandy Doherty about this:
“On my sign, it says “God Save Virginia Guiffre”. She was the woman who was likely raped by Prince Andrew when she was 17 and got paid off £12 million so he didn’t have to go to trial. I think that says a lot about the Monarchy, about the institution. £12 million is a lot of money.”
Meghan Markle was another particularly awkward absence, so I spoke to Eleanor Alexander, who was holding a sign naming her as “The People’s Princess”:
“I love Meghan Markle. I think that she has been done very dirty by the British people and by the Monarchy. The lack of protection [for her] was rooted in imperialism and colonialism for which they have been the figurehead and upheld for hundreds of years. I get why she isn’t here, that’s why I wanted to bring her here because there’d be too much drama with all these Royalists over here. I get why she’s at home with her kids but I wish we lived in a world where she was able to come”.
Many of those in attendance have been lifelong opponents of the Monarchy, like Sandra Sinkin.
“I’m 81 years old now, so I’ve waited a long time to see whether this country ever becomes a Republic. A great hero of mine is Oliver Cromwell and he did succeed in getting a republic for this country but unfortunately they brought the Royal Family back and I think that was a great mistake”
The atmosphere was quite tense around the protest, with the few hundred people in attendance vastly outnumbered by Union Jack-waving Royalists on all sides. I asked June (who chose not to give her full name) whether this felt intimidating:
“Not at all, no. I’m not scared of Royalists. They’re not as clever as we are. We have to make a show, this is the first chance in my lifetime, I’ll be 70 next year, this is the first chance I’ve had to protest the Monarchy. I don’t agree with the system, I want to elect everybody that represents us in this country so we can get rid of them if they’re corrupt.”
The Royalist response
Many Royalists in attendance spent their time angrily booing the protest and overheard people demanding the police arrest them all, with others muttering “they should be shot.” But some were just simply annoyed they were blocking the view of the procession. As one supporter of the Royal family said:
“I just think they should go home basically. If they don’t believe in the King they should just go and do something they actually want to do.”
Tracy, sporting a Union Jack bow in her hair, simply wants the protestors to “do it somewhere else.”
“There’s a time and a place, and today’s not the time or the place to be doing something like that.”
While Mistee Barrett is sure they managed to “out-boo” the protestors.
“Why take up spaces right on the road where the Coronation is going past and there are people who actually want to see the Coronation? You don’t have to agree with the Monarchy but it’s here, he is the King, so don’t take up space for people that actually want to watch the Coronation. They’re ruining it, well they’re trying to ruin it, but I think there’s enough of us here to out-boo them. We’ll make a lot more noise than them and if they’re disruptive the police will get rid of them, which is what should happen.”
Loudspeakers communicated what was going on inside the Abbey to the crowd, though this was often drowned out by choruses of “Not My King!” “He’s just a normal man!” and “We want a Republic.”
Throughout Queen Elizabeth’s long reign, even ardent republican campaigners admitted she was so personally popular that there was little chance of getting rid of the Monarchy while she was alive.
Now that the substantially less favored Charles is King the future for the Royal Family is looking a lot shakier. Who knows, maybe sooner rather than later these protestors will get their wish and this ancient institution will be left firmly in the past.