I have been a republican for as long as I can remember. Back then, you couldn’t even get people to talk seriously about it, whereas now, there seems to be a growing movement towards a republic – no idea what percentage of people favour it, but I surmise that it is a substantial figure.
I therefore find it deeply disconcerting to find that the best protection we seem to have against a Government bent on removing our rights on a wholesale basis appear to be the self same House of Lords and Royal Family who our ancestors fought against in order to gain those rights in the first place. I like Charles Windsor, he is charmingly barmy, if we are going to have a king, then he will probably do rather nicely (my first choice would be to raffle it, no less random yet rather fairer than the current selection method).
Mind you, barmy Charles comes from a long line of nutters, his father, Phil the Greek, being no exception.
In 1967 he was asked if he would like to go to Moscow to help thaw out the Cold War. He replied ‘I would very much like to go to Russia — although the bastards murdered half my family.’ Duke of Edinburgh celebrated in book of gaffes (Scotsman)