Fury as anti-monarchy billboards appear in Cardiff and Swansea

September 16, 2021 Ava

Fury has erupted tonight after a series of anti-monarchy posters with the slogan ‘Wales doesn’t need a prince’ appeared on billboards in Wales.

The signs – featuring a picture of Charles, the Prince of Wales – have been spotted in Aberdare, Cardiff and Swansea.

The slogan, written in bold white letters on a green background, is in both Welsh and English.

The posters have been organised by Republic, an anti-royal group who want the UK’s system of monarchy to end after the Queen‘s death.

They are part of a campaign named ‘EndTheMonarchy’, which has been paid for by more than £25,000 of crowdfunding.

And they follow on from previous anti-monarchy posters which have appeared on billboards across the UK.

However the posters have tonight been slammed by officials in Wales, who say they do not reflect the public opinion in the country.

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Who are Republic?

Republic is a pressure group calling for an end to the UK’s system of constitutional monarchy.

Set up in 1983 as a group of republicans and officially founded as pressure group in 2006, Republic wants to replace a royal head of state with an elected figure.

It would bring the UK into line with countries such as Germany, which has both a political leader, currently Chancellor Angela Merkel, and an elected head of state, the President of Germany, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

It is a member organisation of Common Cause – the alliance of republican movements in the Commonwealth – as well as the Stockholm based Alliance of European Republican Movements.

The group protested the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011 and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding in 2018.

It is currently headed up by Peter Cafferkey – who took over as chairman of the pressure group earlier this year.

Mr Cafferkey is the UK’s representative for the European Venture Philanthropy Association, having founded London-based ‘social good’ consultancy Boncerto.

Its current CEO is long-term member Graham Smith, who has constistently called for the end to the Monarchy – a system he describes as ‘wrong’.

As of 2015, the group had an income of £140,000.

In 2016 it had over 5,000 paying members and about 35,000 online supporters

Its most recent campaigner, EndTheMonarchy was launched earlier this year and has raised more than £25,000 through crowd funding.

Earlier this year the group put up anti-monarchy posters in Aberdeen, Paisley and Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, the Potteries, Birmingham and Portsmouth.

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Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies told MailOnline: ‘As the Western Mail/Beaufort Research poll showed earlier this year, 70 per cent of people in Wales want to see Prince William made the Prince of Wales when the current Prince of Wales becomes King.

‘The Royal Family are extremely popular in Wales, and that is because their presence provides guaranteed stability in the UK and they are fantastic ambassadors for this country.

‘The campaign behind these billboards were is simply not reflective of Welsh public opinion.’

He added: ‘This is a fringe movement, totally divorced from the people’s priorities and opinion.’

The campaigning group first introduced the controversial billboards back in late July.

The group argue on their website that a hereditary public office such as the Royal Family ‘goes against every democratic principle’.

Though the Queen is a constitutional monarch – meaning she has no effective democratic powers – the group say the royal family cannot be held to account via the ballot box.

‘There’s nothing to stop them abusing their privilege, misusing their influence or simply wasting our money’ argues the organisation.

The group proposes a new elected head of state should be put in place to ‘represent our hopes and aspirations – and help us keep politicians in check’.

Such a system is used in countries like Germany, which have both a political leader, currently Chancellor Angela Merkel, and an elected head of state, the President of Germany, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The UK has had a royal head of state since 1688, when powers were put in place to turn the country from a monarchy to a constitutional monarchy.

But while some have argued for change, many have argued the UK should retain the Royal Family.

The Queen is a figure known around the world, and prior to the pandemic, around 3,285,000 people visited the official royal residences each year.

It estimated by Forbes that the royal family brought in £19billion to the UK’s economy in 2019/20.

Republic however estimated in 2015 that the Monarchy actually costs around £340million each year through costs, including security.

Others have pointed to the benefits of having a ‘guiding figure’, above the realm of politics, who people can look to particularly in times of crisis.

The Queen won praise for her ‘unifying’ speech at the beginning of the Covid pandemic, along with her message of thanks to frontline workers during her most recent Christmas Day speech.

Under its EndTheMonarchy campaign, Republic hopes to spread its anti-monarchy message.

The campaign was launched earlier this year and has so far raised more than £25,000 through crowd funding.

On the fundraising page, the group says: ‘The monarchy is wrong in principle, wrong in practice and it’s bad for British politics.

‘That’s the message we want the country to hear when we launch a major new billboard advertising campaign!

‘We want the country to know there is a positive, exciting, democratic alternative to sitting back and letting Charles become our head of state.’

Earlier this year the group put up anti-monarchy posters in Aberdeen, Paisley and Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, the Potteries, Birmingham and Portsmouth.

However, despite the group’s campaigning, the Royal Family’s popularity remains strong in Britain.

According to an Ipsos MORI survey earlier this year, 43 per cent of respondents said Britain’s future would be worse should the monarchy be abolished.

Only 1 in 5 believe abolishing the monarchy would be good for the country’s future.

However much of the popularity has been pinned on the Queen, who is history’s fourth longest serving monarch, having reigned for 69 years.

In the March poll 40 per cent described the Queen as their favourite royal, while for Prince Charles, who is next in line to the throne, it was as low as 11 per cent.

Meanwhile, Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, was the second most popular royal, at 28 per cent.

Other figures from a YouGov poll, also in March, showed support for the monarchy – with 63 per cent saying they believed it should continue.

There was however a slight dip in support at the time, following Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which they made allegations of racism within the Royal Family.

However the couple, who quit royal life for America last year, remain among the most unpopular royals according to the YouGov survey – along with Prince Andrew.

MailOnline has contacted Clarence House for a comment on the billboard campaign.

Source: Thanks msn.com