Monarchist myths

Republic

Three key myths help sustain support for the monarchy, none of them are true.

“It’s good for tourism”

This claim is not only untrue, it’s irrelevant. Even VisitBritain, our national tourist agency, can’t find any evidence for it. Research shows that tourists come here for our world class museums, beautiful scenery, fantastic shopping and captivating history – not because they might catch a glimpse of Prince Andrew. In a republic, royal properties such as Buckingham Palace would be open all year round, so visitors that do want to explore our royal heritage would have even more opportunity to do so.

But, even if the claim were true, do we really want the whims of foreign tourists to determine what kind of political system we have?

“It has no power – it’s just for decoration”

The Queen certainly does have power, including the power to sign international treaties and deploy British troops abroad. It’s true that most of these “royal prerogative powers” are today exercised by government, but that in itself is a serious problem. These powers have been transferred directly from the monarch to the prime minister and don’t need the approval of parliament, effectively shutting out the British people from important decisions. That is fundamentally anti-democratic – and it can only happen because we have a monarchy.

Then there’s the problem of parliamentary sovereignty. At one point all the power in the land was held by the king or queen. Over time that power moved to parliament and is now held collectively by 650 MPs. However, the fundamental nature of that power hasn’t changed – parliament can make or scrap any law it likes, just as the monarch could in the past. This means our freedoms are never really guaranteed because parliament can always decide to remove them. Again, this a direct result of having a monarchy. 

“It unites the country”

You only have to look around to realise that Britain is no more unified than many republics – in fact, it’s probably less so. It’s often said that the royal wedding and the jubilee brought the country together, but the vast majority don’t participate in royal events, which have no lasting impact other than a bill for the taxpayer.