Anti-royal Protests Break Out on Coronation Day

LONDON – As expected, anti-royal protestors have gathered in London on the day of King Charles III’s coronation.

They carried yellow signs and posters and waved flags with slogans that said “Not My King,” “Abolish The Monarchy,” and “Citizens, Not Subjects.”

Members of the “Just Stop Oil” movement joined the protest as people gathered to watch the procession in central London on Saturday morning as King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla made their way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for the service.

According to British media reports, more than a dozen Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested over alleged plans to jump the barriers at The Mall, the road that links Buckingham Palace with Trafalgar Square.

The cost of the coronation is estimated to be 100 million pounds, roughly double the cost of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, and much of that spend has been earmarked for security. As reported, the coronation is being paid for by the U.K. government.

That anti-monarchist sentiment isn’t confined to Britain.

Last year, Prince William and the then Duchess of Cambridge were heckled about the royal family’s historic ties to slavery, and Britain’s imperialist past, during a week-long Caribbean tour last year to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

A month later, the Prince Edward and the then Countess of Wessex faced anti-monarchy protests, and demands for reparations during their own tour of the Carribbean to mark the Jubilee. The mood was so bad that they couple was forced to cancel a stop in Grenada. 

In April, Buckingham Palace confirmed that it was supporting a research project, co-sponsored by Historic Royal Palaces, into the monarchy’s involvement in the slave trade in the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

As part of the investigation, the king will open the family’s official collections, records and the Royal Archives. “This is an issue that His Majesty takes profoundly seriously,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement last month.