'The Firm': Does the Monarchy Still Have Place in Modern Britain?

The British Royal family has certainly had a whirlwind of a past few months.

By now, almost everyone has seen (or at least heard of) the iconic interview concerning Meghan Markle and Prince Harry on the Oprah show, regarding “Megxit”; this aired in the UK on the 8th of March, attracting copious amounts of media attention. The tabloids have been filled over the past few months with Royal controversies, ranging from Prince Andrew’s involvement in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, to Prince Charles contracting coronavirus, while also seeing a drop in his national popularity after the Oprah broadcast - It’s hardly surprising when the interview revealed he stopped taking Harry's calls too. People are beginning to question whether or not the monarchy should change, or whether it should exist at all. Is there still a place for this family in modern Britain?

One important factor that caused the monarchy’s popularity to plummet is that The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had been cut off financially by the Royal family at the beginning of 2020, meaning the couple now had to rely on Harry's inheritance from Princess Diana, who also suffered at the hands of the British press. It could be argued that if they want to remove themselves from the royal family, then they shouldn’t be expecting to rely on them financially, but the treatment still seems cruel. Another key factor diminishing the royal family’s popularity would be the seemingly discriminative treatment of Megan Markle, which suggests that the royal family remains outdated to modern Britain’s multicultural identity. Can the royal family truly represent Britain if they don’t represent the diversity of its citizens?

If the monarchy is to be abolished any time soon, it’s likely that most of the young royals will follow in the Duke and Duchess’ footsteps, but it's worth remembering that royal experts say the likelihood of the monarchy being abolished is pretty low, even if royal author Nigel Cawthorne previously suggested to Insider that the monarchy will be "severely damaged in the long term by Harry and Megan’s exit. It remains that most experts believe that things will not change significantly at all, especially given the historical examples ranging from the controversies around both Princess Margaret and Princess Diana, who had similar responses with little action done. When an institute is this embedded into the identity of Britain, its questioned whether this can truly be changed.

We could also ask if there is an actual demand by the public for change. While there haven’t been any protests or riots about the abolishment of the English monarchy, many people believe that the opposition to the monarchy is larger than the media portray it. There is a wide range of motivations for the abolition of the monarchy, including anti-class views and the desire for egalitarianism, where the monarchy is perceived as anachronistic and outdated, along with opposition to it as an undemocratic and hereditary institution, not to mention opposition to a particular monarch or dynasty. While there is little doubt that the nature of the constitutional monarch gives the Queen little power, it remains that the Queen has privilege as a birth right and can still wield more power than many would believe, with it being recently revealed she had blocked attempts to investigate the extent of the monarchy’s wealth. While France no longer has a monarchy, their royal palaces are still tourist attractions. Tourism still can exist for royalty that doesn’t.

All in all, the monarchy doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, with it still having enough popularity with the public to keep them secure and in tact. But this is not permanent. If our generation is more aligned with Meghan and Harry, then change in the monarchy is more likely then unlikely. The question is simple, if the royal family does not change, will the public’s tolerance last?

Written by Thalia Cosgrove

Photography by Thalia Cosgrove