Should Great Britain abolish its monarchy?
As we watch Japan continue to struggle out from under the horrific destruction of the earthquake and tsunami, and UN backed fighter planes try to protect beleaguered Libyan revolutionaries, it wouldn’t be surprising to see interest in a certain royal wedding begin to wane.
The inspection of the first few pages of any London daily would seem to support this theory but, of course, a few more pages in, the photos of Kate and Wills start to pop up, with speculation about Kate’s choice of wedding footwear getting as much ink as the reported rift on international policy between that other famous couple—Hillary and Barack.
The English are known for their respectful compartmentalizing in times of crisis but, in a growingly complex and threatening world, how do they really feel about this royal wedding?
In a November ComRes poll for The Independent, over 50 percent of Brits said they are “not excited” about the marriage of William and Kate and 31 percent “couldn’t care less.” On the other hand, 28 percent said they are “fairly excited.”
Overall, republican groups, which call for the abolition of the monarchy, reportedly make up 20 percent of the UK population, while 70 percent of the population back the current constitutional monarchy. There appears to be no truth to the rumour that the remaining 10 percent feel that Canada should invade and make William our cabana boy.
There is also the argument that since the last big one (that’s royal wedding, not earthquake) in 1981, there has been such a rise in the culture of celebrity that Wills and Kate are, now, C-list celebs, at best. Hmm, maybe they should take a tip from 50 percent of poll respondents who said they think the monarchy needs to “modernize.” Perhaps, a white linen, beach wedding in Montenegro would make a bigger splash? I wonder what colour flip-flops Kate would wear? I’d be “fairly excited” to write about that.
