Saying Goodbye to the Crown

Just three months ago we Brits were celebrating Queen Elizabeth's 70-year reign, the longest reigning monarch our country has ever seen. Today is the last day of Her Majesty's reign and it's time to say goodbye to the crown. Britain has been divided for a very long time, the 2016 European Union Referendum only revealed these cracks. Over the past six years, tensions have got considerably worse. Civil unrest is beginning to break out, our government is not even hiding how corrupt they are, and people are struggling to put food on the table (and we are talking millions in a population of 67.2 million), Britain is in a transition of change. For better or worse, I can not say for sure, but I sense an opportunity to make a change for the good of the people. A nation of the people, not of the wealthy. I have said this before but we must measure the greatness of a nation based on the absence of poverty not how many billionaires live there.

Us Brits are resilient and rather tolerant, almost too obedient, but one thing I haven't stopped hearing from all sorts of people since 2016 is that our country desperately needs a revolution (I wish I was French). Now, revolutions can be tricky, some can be strictly political (The 'Bloodless' Revolution) while others typically are bloody and violent (The French Revolution, Bolshevik's etc). Just last week I met someone who works within the system, with previous parliamentary experience telling local MP's how the system just doesn't work and it's always a catch-22. Either way, something has got to give, the system doesn't work and (I hate to admit) we are unstable as a nation, and therefore vulnerable and weak on the international stage. Brexit is Britain's Biggest Hangover, and it is proof that the United Kingdom is nothing but a flag and a title.

Another reoccurring topic within the semantics of a revolution is that it is time for the monarchy to go. The idea of the monarchy is something that has existed since 1066 under William the Conquer, nearly a thousand years of mainly Kings and some Queens. Minus the eleven years that made Britain a Republic under the rule of Oliver Cromwell after the beheading of Charles I giving way to our very Parliament today. Cromwell was onto something (as was Guy Fawkes but we will get to him in about two months), but he became a tyrant and King in a different sort of way, and so he was eventually beheaded and had a paper crown placed upon his severed head (or so the story goes).

Britain is divided in many ways than one, and for me, the monarchy is nothing but an archaic primitive tradition that represents imperialism and an old world that does not fit in the modern age. The monarchy is supposedly ordained by God. We as a nation are atheists, with 53% of the population not believing in God or any God for that matter. Despite Paganism being the native faith and Britain is referred to as a Christain nation. Tradition is just pre-pressure from ghosts, and after nearly a millennia I would say society has probably changed a lot since then, wouldn't you?

Furthermore, it's hard to want to have a monarchy when you are struggling to get by and there Her Majesty is, addressing the nation as she tells us "We are all in this together" while sitting in front of a golden fireplace. We are not in this together and never have been (the party scandal is proof of that). We aren't in the same boat either, but we are sharing the same sea. The monarchy in its mighty cruiser, others in fancy yachts while I and the rest of us are in canoes, and makeshift rafts trying to get ourselves afloat dogging those already in the sea.

I am not alone in thinking it is time to abolish the monarchy, and it only seems fitting to end it upon Elizabeth's death. I admire her and respected her as a woman who has served her nation and has always done what she thought is best, but I despise the titles and formalities because it means f*ck all - when death is what makes us all equal. Charles is not well liked let alone Camila. I've even heard people considering the alternative of handing it straight to William and Kate. Then there's Andrew, and well no one on either side likes that one...

Britain is in a transition of change that has brought the nation into uncharted waters. If you are a spectator aboard looking from the outside in, please know this: our country is an absolute mess completely divided, and tensions are rising and have been for quite some time; before long the kettle will be boiled. It's starting to drop in temperature now and with the forever rising costs it's going to get much worse. People are hungry, food banks are under that much pressure they are running out of donated goods because people can't afford to donate anymore. We have never truly been united as a nation, and if we don't make a change now then we never will be and might as well call it a day.

When people are hungry it is one thing, but when people are cold it is another, and it is almost certain that they, the monarchy won't be cold this winter, while as Martin Lewis' (Money Savings Expert) has warned that people are going to die. Living standards have dropped back to the 1950s, while the Tories were fearing Jeremy Corbyn would take us back to the 70s.

Oh, the painful irony.

Others argue that the monarchy is good for tourism as well as protecting democracy. Now firstly, tourism is a weak argument, purely for the simple fact that people from all over the world would travel to marvel at the royal palaces and estates that have been locked from the public for who knows how long.

Secondly, the system does not work and I repeat does not work. It needs a 'complete uphaul' as the gentlemen I spoke to last week put it. And he is exactly right, it does, but how do we create a new system within the broken system that we are trying to recreate? Many questions, require many answers and our leaders will not be able to do this, and as such with the abolishment of the monarchy is it also time for a General Election. A 'Liz for a Liz' so to speak.

I hope we change for the better and maybe unite under a new flag at the birth of a renewed nation; secure and certain.

May Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Rest in Peace, and be reunited with her husband Prince Philip.

References:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Wales/comments/h91u1y/the_original_scottish_version_of_the_union_flag/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56252745

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/how-did-oliver-cromwell-die

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-36616028