According to the European Times, rehearsals for military parades, pudding baking competitions and street parties are being prepared for the celebration of the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne. However, the British anti-monarchy group Republic recently announced that it will launch a campaign called "Don't Come For another 70 Years" to call for an end to the British monarchy. This can't help but make people wonder, in today's royal family, the problem of the existence of the royal family has been repeatedly put out to "break the head", how do the British people view the royal family?
▲The picture shows the British royal family. (Photo from Xinhua News Agency)
In an equal modern society, how can there be a "superior" family
How many "die-hard fans" of the British royal family are there?
The BBC reports that Uk YouGov conducts polls on the monarchy every year, and the results in October 2020 showed that 67% of Britons want to retain the monarchy, up from 76% in 2016 and 99% in 1983. A poll conducted in March 2021 showed that 63% of people believe that the UK should continue to implement the monarchy in the future. Meanwhile, a quarter said they preferred democratically elected heads of state.
Obviously, the support of the British Royal Family is on a downward trend. "I personally feel like we don't need a monarchy anymore, I don't know what role it plays, it's a relic of colonialism, it's a very different era," said Kirsten Johnson, a university administrator from Derby.
"We already have elected officials, so I really don't understand why a monarchy is needed," she added. "Theoretically, the Queen had to sign all the papers, but in reality she was just a leader in name only."
"As a Scotsman, the monarchy is very distant and foreign to me," said Mathew Burton-Webster, a boarding childcare worker, "and the only thing that reminds us of them is our money, or the death of one of them." ”
"They give themselves ownership of land in Scotland, a vacation on a private estate here, but it feels like they're not paying anything. They represent meaningless British institutions and traditions that are only good for themselves. He said.
There is no otherworldly moral character, the royal family is just ordinary people
But The late Queen Elizabeth's personal secretary, Lord Charteris, once said, "We are in an industry that provides happiness for people" and that the secret weapon of the royal family's "enterprise" is to convey the values that British people believe in, such as happiness, happiness, stability, courage and even high class. At the same time, the royal family is a national symbol of the empire that never sets, and for its supporters, the royal family provides a real, touchable sense of history and national pride.
▲ On July 10, 2018, Prince William (third from left), Princess Kate (second from left), Harry (fifth from left) and Meghan (fourth from left) attended the 100th anniversary celebration of the Royal Air Force at Westminster Abbey in London. (Photo from Xinhua News Agency)
However, the royal family has erupted in a spate of affairs and scandals over the past few decades, with beijing youth daily reporting everything from Charles's disconnection with Camilla to the conspiracy theory of Diana's car accident, from Prince Andrew's suspension from public office due to a sex scandal to Charles's alleged sale of honors and titles to a number of international personalities. Not long ago, after Prince Harry and his wife Meghan withdrew from the royal family, in a public interview in the United States, it was exposed that Meghan and her children seemed to be discriminated against by the royal family because of their black blood, which made many people draw a question mark: How can this family that has repeatedly reported scandals be a "moral model"?
Even the British historian David Abulafia, a conservative and "loyalist", lamented that the image of the British royal family "had many ups and downs" and that "the royal family has no otherworldly moral qualities, they are just ordinary people." ”
It is not so much support for the royal family as it is for the queen
Although the British royal family has a basket of bad things, it does not prevent supporters from separating the queen from the royal family – not so much supporting the British royal family as supporting the Queen.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is by no means a fan of the royal family, but he also has a lot of respect for the Queen. In modern democracies, although the queen has no real power, being a queen is also a job, and it is not an easy job. Elizabeth II's "spirit of service" is there for all to see. As early as April 1947, the then Princess Elizabeth made a radio address to the entire Commonwealth on her 21st birthday: "I declare to you that my life, no matter how long or short, will be used to serve you. ”
Since then, from the Suez Canal crisis in the 1950s to the collapse of the Aberfan slag yard in the 1960s, the radical trade union movements and mass migrations in the 1970s, the Falkland War in the 1980s, the fiasco of foreign exchange management and the death of Princess Diana in the 1990s, Brexit in the early 21st century and the COVID-19 pandemic, the head of state has been the same person for many years. As historian John Grigg puts it, the queen has become "a barrier to stability in times of social and moral upheaval."
But what if there is a sudden event such as the queen's abdication or death? Historian Alina Polyacova believes that people may have transferred support for the queen to Prince William. In recent years, multiple polls have shown that Prince William is one of the most popular figures in the British royal family. "The British have great confidence in this mature, reserved and responsible prince, for whom people may be willing to 'endure' Charles's rule." She said.
"The world is messy enough, we don't want to make any more messes"
At the same time, all those who are related to the royal family, the big economic IP, seem to want the monarchy to go a long way.
Xinhua Net reported that the royal family is an important tourism, entertainment, culture and brand resource in the United Kingdom, which has brought huge business opportunities to related industries. In the case of Harry and Meghan's wedding, for example, the wedding brought more than £1.3 billion to the UK economy through tourism.
▲ On May 20, 2018, the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry of the United Kingdom and the American actor Meghan was held at Windsor Castle. (Photo from Xinhua News Agency)
In addition, although the British government pays a sum of money called "sovereign appropriation" to the royal family every year, this amount actually comes from the royal territory income operated by Crown Properties, not directly from British taxpayers. In terms of amount, the money allocated by the government to the royal family is lower than the rent actually produced by these royal lands, and the excess income of the royal territory is collected by the national treasury, so it can also be said that the royal family is subsidizing the government. The royal family allocates assets around the world, and these revenues are mainly used for official expenses, personnel salaries and property maintenance. Without touching on property ownership, retaining the Royal Family is generally beneficial to the British economy.
It can be seen that those who support the preservation of the royal family do not necessarily support the royal power, especially when the new crown epidemic and Brexit have left the British economy and people's lives in a state of instability, as the British historian Peter Hennessy said: "The world is chaotic enough, we don't want any more chaos." (Original title: News "All Europe": Do you want another 70 years? What exactly do the British think of the royal family)