Following Prince Harry and Megan Markle’s explosive interview with Oprah earlier this month, many questions have arisen surrounding the British monarchy and its place in contemporary society. It may come as no surprise that, according to a 2020 study published in statista, it is among over 65-year-olds where the level of support for the monarchy is the highest at 84%. Conversely, it is the younger generations who appear less in favour of the monarchy, instead favouring an elected head of state with only 42% supporting the monarchy. I spoke to local students to see what they had to say on the matter.

 

Esher college student Marni Malekzadeh described himself as a “strong anti-monarchist”. He pointed to the 1953 Iranian coup, and the Queens alleged involvement (as reported by the independent), as one of the incidents that pushed him towards his anti-monarchist views. Similarly, BRIT school student Callum Falchikov criticised the monarchy for its links to colonialism and the British empire. He further called out the monarchy for being not only “massively unfair on the general British population, but also unfair on the family themselves” as the royal family obviously do not get to choose if they are a part of the establishment or not. Some argue in favour of the monarchy on the grounds that it brings in significant tourist revenue, which justifies the Royal Families collective worth of 88 million.

 

Overall, it is clear that the monarchy is troubled with finding the balance between maintaining tradition and also keeping progressive and relevant in order to justify its place in modern society. At the moment, there is no evidence to suggest a significant change to the role and structure of the British monarchy. However, after allegations of racism within the establishment, the Guardian has reported that “the royal family are considering appointing a diversity tsar under new plans to modernist the monarchy,” although this is not certain yet, nor is it clear exactly what impact a diversity tsar could have.