Why we still need a monarchy - and why it’s now more important than ever

Royal sceptics, this article does not mention the infamous ‘tourism’ argument, so you can rest easy…

Since more or less all of time there have been rebellions against the monarchy - the French Revolution, the English Civil War, the Russian Revolution, and Guy Fawkes’ plot to kill King James I for example, being some of the most notable examples. In more recent history, the 1960s saw an uprising which saw angry citizens protesting the fact that poverty and joblessness was on the rise whilst the royal family and aristocrats lived lavish lives behind palace walls (which actually led to the now-banned royal documentary produced in 1969 which followed Queen Elizabeth II’s family life for a year to show their more ‘human side’, although this was only aired once then banned). But even though in the 21st century protestors aren’t nearly as violent as they were during some of the events listed above, there are still many calls by, usually further left, citizens to abolish the monarchy and force them to step down.

Naturally this has been counter-argued many times too, with the general opinion being that it is not in the national interest nor is it high up on the agenda to abolish or vote to abolish the monarchy. Many less radical citizens (and I don't necessarily mean that negatively, unless you advocate for violence of course) would argue that the monarchy represents a traditional piece of British history that sets us apart from other nations - the history behind our royal family is something not many nations can say they have - and the royals themselves are generally popular, with millions turning out for royal events and a higher number for special events such as royal weddings, with the highest turn out being recorded at 750 million viewers for Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s 1981 wedding - the second highest televised event in history - ironically enough after Princess Diana’s funeral, which was watched by a whopping 2.5 billion people; and although the number of viewers of royal weddings has decreased over the years, the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 still amassed 17.6 million viewers.

However the fact remains that many people still remain unimpressed by this. Many left-wing campaigners have argued that it is simply ridiculous that millions are spent on royal events, especially taxpayer money, which could be distributed towards people in need, but this argument simply does not stand up. Firstly, the taxpayer argument is although one of the oldest in the book, does not work because during 2018-19, the monarchy cost British taxpayers £67m - which Sky News worked out was around £1.24 per person - so our thousands in taxes are not really helping fund the lavish lifestyles of anyone. Another point worth making is that the royal family actually have private investments into a lot of sources, and the majority of their funding comes from the Sovereign Grant, which is paid by the government. Secondly, the cliché argument that throwing money at things ‘simply makes it better’ does not work, and has been proven time and time again. No matter how much money is given to the NHS, issues for both staff and patients unfortunately never seem to get solved, what needs to change is how it is run (although this is a conversation for a different time), so throwing money at any other scheme for the less fortunate will also not work in the long run either.

People campaigning for the abolition of the monarchy also seem to conveniently forget how much time and money is spent on charity work by the monarchy - aged 70, Princess Anne clocked up 148 official engagements in 2020 and spent 145 days carrying out public duties - and that’s during a pandemic! Even the Queen herself, at 94 years old, attended 283 engagements in 2018. The royals have also worked with countless charities both in the UK and abroad, and the majority of the royals, especially the younger generation, were brought up to believe that their job is to help people, not sit around in lavish homes all day.

All in all, a monarchy now is more needed than ever; they preserve our history and uphold many of the traditional values that are fading away nowadays, including but not limited to the importance of marriage, family, and classiness. Without being stuck in the past, they are conservative, and without disregarding everything that has ever come before them, they are liberal. Many left-wingers argue that wealthier people should use their power to do good - and that is exactly what the royal family do, with their jobs being to perform charity and acts of goodwill to the less fortunate. Whilst this does not completely absolve the royals of any errors they have made (there are more than a few to name) they are not really so monumental that the entire institution needs to be abolished, whereas the faults of some of the politicians in this country that have been allowed to keep their jobs and remain in power are, but again, that’s a conversation for a different day…