I am part Indian, part British, happily living in Wales and learning Welsh and wholly republican. This belief happened in 1969 when the BBC filmed a documentary called The Royal Family. It was an attempt by the BBC to make the Royal family look normal and approachable done with the support of Prince Philip and the Queen. All scenes had to be approved by a committee of TV executives that was chaired by Prince Philip
I was 22 at the time and it was the swinging sixties and the Royals were looking like unreachable figureheads. The family were unwilling at first but in the end they came round and were actually filmed having dinner together and having conversations. I watched the film with great interest.
The queen in an attempt to look normal was discussing an outfit for a do with her lady-in-waiting. She had in front of her a necklace of unimaginable wealth and beauty. She looked at her lady-in-waiting and said: “Have I worn this before?”
It was at that moment that I became a republican. She had no concept or understanding that this was not normal.
It was aired in black and white on the BBC and in colour on ITV, and was a massive success. Prince Philip was uncomfortable about being filmed himself and Princess Anne hated it:
“I thought it was a rotten idea. The attention that had been brought on one ever since one was a child, you just didn’t want anymore. And the last thing you needed was greater access. I don’t remember enjoying any part of that.”
In 1970 Buckingham Palace locked the film away in royal archives never to be seen in its entirety again without Her Majesty’s permission. People think that the Queen and now King are just figureheads. In fact they wield unimaginable power. They pay no inheritance tax. They vet all the new laws that come out to exempt themselves from any law that could affect them.
Since 1967 they have invoked the privilege of royal exemptions more than 160 times, including animal welfare, workers’ rights and even taxation.
As the MP Clive Lewis states: “I believe every single person should be equal under the law”. This is a very fair statement. However with the coronation, the police and the organisation Republic had agreed that they could demonstrate peacefully against the King. The police did not keep their word and the leader of this group and six others were arrested. The police have since expressed regret but only because they were criticised as being unnecessarily heavy -handed.
Then we move on the oath of allegiance to the King at the coronation. How dare he! We are citizens not serfs. There is no rebellious member of the aristocracy wanting to take over the monarchy. This is showing us that the King has the right to rule over us. His mother has spent a lifetime building up the wealth of the royal family so now Charles is a billionaire.
Much of the wealth also came from slavery and the Colonial life of the British Empire. At the ceremony there were people of colour being involved to show what a diverse country we are.
Their job of being royal is simply to meet and greet. That’s all folks. Everything else is done for them. The scandals within the family are huge and yet we are supposed to accept them. The Queen paid £12 million pounds to protect Prince Andrew. She did nothing to protect the Duchess of Sussex.
The Princess of Wales, a commoner, has become the most attractive member of the family. She meets, greets and giggles and dresses beautifully and uses this charm without any shame. After all that is what she is employed for and on top of that, she is beautiful, thin and white.
All the expense of the coronation was paid for by us, while the ruthless profiteering of energy bills, food prices going through the roof, working people forced to use food banks and rents sky-high continue. The people are sucked into the trivia of the monarchy which makes us apathetic as we wave our flags and have street parties. We should be angry!
We have a government and press which controls us by divide and rule. As long as we blame each other, the working against the unemployed, the public against the private sector, the hard workers against the work dodgers, the young people against the older generation, we will always have apathy. The poor are getting poorer and the gap between the rich and the poor has grown larger than ever before and the rich have become more and more selfish. The Coronation was a prime example of this. All this money spent while people are getting poorer is a disgrace.
We have to start changing our attitudes towards the rich and the monarchy. Do not be accepting. Change to a republic. This is the time to do it. Be angry!
The opinions expressed by the columnist are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Llanelli Standard. We encourage you to write to us with your own thoughts.
