Hundreds of Republic anti monarchy supporters marched to Buckingham Palace during the garden party

Añadido: 2026-05-17

[00:00:01]So yesterday, I believe it was yesterday, let me check the date again.

[00:00:06]Yes. So yesterday, the 9th of May, um a movement called Republic um marched to Buckingham Palace um to protest um they want to abolish the monarchy and about and according to reports because again this wasn't reported by majority of the mainstream newspapers or media in the UK. This was actually reported by foreign media and actually one other which surprised me. Uh GB news actually reported it but they downplayed um the movement but hundreds of people actually marched from Trafalga Square to Buckingham Palace on Saturday which was yesterday calling for the abolition of the monarchy. and Graeme Smith who leads Republic said that this would have been unthinkable in 2022 and that they could not have done it, that they did not even have the staff or the money to do it and that the death of the late Queen Elizabeth and the coronation of King Charles changed everything for the movement and that suddenly it grew from one member of staff to many staff. Now this is significant because for me it's not the number of people who marched. I believe um they might have had up to a thousand people. Again depending on the reporting that you choose to believe cuz and again when I did a little I saw some pictures and I did a little head count I was able to count at least in the frame I saw I counted about two 300 people. So they did have quite a number of people marching. And what I also found interesting about the demographic was that a lot of them were actually older people. That shocked me because according to um surveys that are done, you know, those emotional support polls, it's usually the older people that are in favor of the monarchy and I believe many still are. But from what I saw yesterday from the photos, it looks like many of the protesters were older people. You know, older people like me.

[00:02:25]So anyway, I think um the trajectory of you know going from one staff member to many in a space of a few years is not a story about Saturday's demonstration.

[00:02:41]It's actually a story about an organization that found a moment because the polling context makes the trajectory more significant because Ipsos data from February 2026 this year shows that support for King Charles is sitting at 46%.

[00:03:06]It's gone down 9% from last November.

[00:03:12]And that is a substantial drop in a few months. And then only 40% of the public felt that the royal family had become more transparent since Charles became king. Now let's look at what's happened since last November 2025.

[00:03:36]Andrew.

[00:03:38]Andrew. So Andrew was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. And we know that the Epson files also released. We know that Gordon Brown, a former prime minister, actually called for a parliamentary select committee investigation because again, the royal family, you can't trust them to police or investigate themselves.

[00:04:06]So Gordon Brown and that is significant and the article that Gordon Brown wrote, I mean I read it, it was it was good and he actually made some really salient points and I did an extensive video on it because I just thought, "Oh my god."

[00:04:21]And I thought more people would have written about it or debated it. Nadamas, we had not. And you see this is why people have lost trust and faith in that family because if you cannot be open and transparent about things like that, we know that there's this invisible contract. And even the press, they didn't go after Andrew the way they should have gone after Andrew. Instead, they ramped up the hate against Harry and Megan, particularly their Australia trip priorities, people. But anyway, let me carry on. We also know that the after all the shenanigans with Andrew and Epstein and arrest and all that, you know, moving, you know, all the charade of yes, he's been stripped of his title when he hasn't been stripped of his title. and uh the uh charade of okay, we're taking getting getting him out of his um his stately home and we're moving him into a smaller property that was renovated at taxpayer expense of course and he's getting an allowance and he's getting security and then they did the Balaclava incident. Um, I don't know if that was I don't know. I mean, that may have happened naturally, but again, like I said, Sanjium is a private estate, and you know, how does someone get onto a private estate? I do not know. But anyway, we know um that there's been all sorts of situations happening. There was the um um NSPCC photograph of um Andrew and Mandel supposedly um caring for children only for them to be photographed days later in bathroes with a convicted pedophile. But then again um we know lots of things are happening and we also know that the sovereign grant is also under review because I think people have said enough is enough. um is gone up to well sovereign grand is about 10 and something million but the cost of that family to taxpayer is said to be around half a billion pounds and there is no not well there's no return or anything people would consider to be of value to show for it to bang on and on and on about the state visit to America to at least show some workings you know show some results or whatever and even Then that's been forgotten about and people are still talking about Harry and Megan's Australia trip because the Australia trip that produced way better results than anything the royal family has done in years. So at the end of the day um approval ratings are dropping left, right, and center.

[00:07:16]And we know that the polling was done before the state visit, before the congressional address, and before the whiskey tariffs. Yes, the king performed well in Washington.

[00:07:28]But that that's the bare minimum for me.

[00:07:31]I'm sorry. Maybe my standards are higher, but I'm thinking that's what I expect from a king. That's what I expect from someone who is costing the country half a billion pounds. And at the end of the day, maybe his approval has recovered since then, but I very much doubt it. Now, the structural questions the demonstration raises are not about the king personally, right? There was a lady that was interviewed um because she participated in the demonstration and she said that she objects to the class system because the royal family they are at top the class system and they are the ones they're like the roof of the class system. They're the banner and everything else comes under them. And at the top of that hierarchy is an unelected monarchy. And from top to bottom there is inequality. And this has to go. That's what that lady said. By the way, her name was also Elizabeth.

[00:08:40]Her name was Elizabeth McIntyre cuz she was interviewed as one of the protesters. And the argument doesn't depend on whether the king gave a good speech in Congress or not. It depends on whether the institution is sustainable in its current form given everything that surrounds it. Because when you talk about cost of living crisis, when you talk about children not having food to eat, and I've been banging on about that, you know, children not having enough food to eat, having to choose between food and warmth and prices going up every day and people doing whatever they can to survive and the average wage not going up and people not being able to get on the property ladder, they then begin to look at people like the king and his family and they look at the dysfunction and they think is this what we are paying for?

[00:09:39]We're paying for a very lazy heir and wife who do sod literally.

[00:09:46]And then the ones that wanted to work have been driven out of the country.

[00:09:51]They look at the press and it's always slagging off Harry and Megan and they're thinking we don't care, you know, about Harry and Megan. Why don't you talk about real issues for a change? So, these are the things that make people angry and yet the monarchy wants to pretend it's oblivious and their friends in the press unfortunately aid and a bet nonsense. But anyway, um good luck to everyone involved as people would say. Good luck to everybody. Uh the protest happened like um Graeme said, it would have been unthinkable 5 years ago honestly because that is how ingrained the royal family is in the psyche of many Brits. And the fact that the royal family, the monarchy is so ingrained in British life to the point where it would have been unthinkable to even say anything negative against them unless they transgressed hugely. But now, yeah, I think the tide is beginning to I wouldn't say it's turning, but I'm thinking a few more people are waking up. But anyway, let me know what you think in the comments, please. My name is Elizabeth. I'm the author of the Lux Prer. And for more insights like these, please like, share, comment, and don't forget to hit the subscribe button. And to support my work in holding truth to power, you can buy me a coffee at buy me a coffee.com/elizabetharu or you can do super thanks. Thank you so much to all those who do super thanks to me. I truly appreciate it. Or you can get a copy of my book, The Lux Prreneur, from Amazon, Water St. or Barnes and Noble.