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March 9th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
Following UK’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s CBS interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday night, #AbolishTheMonarchy trended on Twitter. A headline in The Telegraph said on March 9, 2021: “Prince Harry has lit a slow burn stick of dynamite that will cause the greatest devastation of all.”
The interview contained revelations that left viewers stunned. One of the biggest moments was when Markle said during the interview that before her son Archie was born, members of the royal family had “concerns and conversations” about “how dark his skin would be.” Winfrey later said on “CBS This Morning” that the family members that had this conversation were neither Prince Phillip nor Queen Elizabeth.
Markle also told Winfrey that she felt she was not being protected by the monarchy, especially when Markle vocalized concerns for her mental health. She explained to Winfrey that she went to a senior official in the palace and was denied help.
“Nothing was ever done,” Markle told Winfrey during the interview. “So we had to find a solution.” She said this led them to step down as senior members of the royal family in January 2020.
As the interview took place, social media users took to Twitter to decry Markle and Harry’s experiences and say that the problematic way the couple was treated was the reason why the monarchy should no longer be an institution within the United Kingdom.
This call to abolish the monarchy is not new. It has happened multiple times on and off social media. Just two years ago, in 2019, the same hashtag trended as Queen Elizabeth agreed to shut down Parliament during Brexit deals.
Republic, a grassroots movement in the United Kingdom, has also been making these calls for years. The group is a membership-based pressure group calling for the monarchy to be replaced with an elected head of state and for the adoption of a new republican constitution.
Republic founded in 1983 has been active ever since. In 2016, the Independent reported that the group claimed: “the British monarchy is not the ‘harmless tourist attraction some people think’ – rather, it has a history of abusing public money and meddling in politics.”
The royal family has existed in the UK for over 1,200 years, so getting rid of the monarchy would not exactly be an easy process.
“Historically, bloody revolutions are how monarchs tend to meet their demise,” VICE reporter Aaron Drapkin wrote, “But military coups and civil wars aren’t really our thing anymore.”
Because the monarchy has no political power, according to the official royal website, any major legislation to make changes, including abolishing the monarchy, would be put forth by Parliament. The abolition of the monarchy would need to come from a referendum or a vote to make said change.
“It would take legislation, an act of Parliament, signed by the Sovereign to end the monarchy,” Koenig previously told. “The monarchy is not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Even if the movement grew stronger, it would most likely have to wait until after the death of Queen Elizabeth, Graham Smith, the chief executive of the Republic, told the Independent in 2016. Smith told the Independent, “It needs to be a straight-forward constitutional reform referendum. We may win or we may lose but the succession would change public opinion, it will change the nature of the debate.”
Piers Morgan leads anti-Markle UK reaction, as public opinion is sharply divided
Public opinion sharply polarized in the UK on Monday as the smoke cleared after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
On one side were those who argued Meghan and Harry’s interview was a self-indulgent tirade of unsubstantiated allegations aimed at undermining the monarchy and enhancing their own profiles. On the other stood what appeared to be a stunned, shocked, and disbelieving majority appalled at the treatment Meghan said she had endured.
Nowhere was the national psychodrama clearer than on Britain’s breakfast chat show, Good Morning Britain, anchored by Meghan troll-in-chief, Piers Morgan, who led the charge for those arguing that the interview was a “disgusting slur” on the royal family.
As he did so, his aghast-looking co-presenter Susanna Reid made it clear this was not happening unchallenged on her watch; she angrily accused Morgan of talking over her and not taking Meghan’s allegations with the seriousness they deserved in an on-air confrontation.
Another guest, racial equality activist Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, called Morgan “a liar and a disgrace” for his attacks on Meghan.
A clip of her berating Morgan was widely shared on social media.
In a later panel on the show, British TV star Trisha Goddard also held Morgan to account for his suggestion that the comments about Archie’s skin color might not have been racist.
Morgan claimed that “most families” might have a conversation about a new baby’s skin color and tried to say that it was “curiosity” rather than racism.
Goddard asked him, “Why is everybody else such an expert about racism against Black people? I am sorry, Piers, you do not get to call out what is and is not racism against Black people. You can call out all the other stuff you want, but leave the racism stuff to us, ok?”
Morgan’s views were broadly summarized by a number of tweets he sent after the broadcast, writing, “I expect all this vile destructive self-serving nonsense from Meghan Markle,” and, “I would not believe Meghan Markle if she gave me a weather report.”
The British opposition Labour party called for an investigation into the allegations of racism. Kate Green said the accusations by Meghan during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired in the U.S. on Sunday were “really distressing, shocking.”
Green told Sky News, “If there are allegations of racism, then I would expect them to be treated by the palace with the utmost seriousness, and fully investigated.”
Asked if the palace needed to respond to the claims, Green said, “I’m sure that the palace will be thinking very carefully about that, and I certainly think people will be wondering what is going to be said. But there’s never any excuse, in any circumstances, for racism, and I think it is important that action is taken to investigate what are really shocking allegations.”
There has been no official government response to the interview so far. Vicky Ford, the Conservative government’s minister for children, who was undertaking a broadcast round to talk about the full reopening of schools in England, told the BBC she had not seen the interview.
Ford added, “There’s no place for racism in our society, and we all need to work together to stop it.”
Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns tweeted, “Today’s Commonwealth Day gives us all another reminder of Her Majesty’s long life of service and duty, continuing to work for us all despite her husband being in hospital. Britain stands with our Queen.”
Fellow Conservative MP Michael Fabricant said, “Every family is dysfunctional one way or another. The holder of every high position will have personal little secrets they want hidden. We are all human. Only HM Queen seems to float selflessly above it all.
“We should be ashamed”
A report by Independent said on March 8, 2021:
Many seized on the revelation from Harry that his father allegedly stopped taking his calls as he prepared to step back from the royal family.
Vulture writer Chris Murphy noted how people across his timeline were all astounded by the story.
“Ghana celebrated its independence from Britain yesterday. Harry and Meghan speak out on Oprah today. Feeling the anti-colonial ancestral energy this weekend. Abeg, let the imperial tea be spilled!” wrote the Washington Post’s Karen Attiah.
Netflix’s Sylvia Obell, and many others, were just as shocked by comments from Harry about how he believed his mother, the late Princess Diana, left him an inheritance with a premonition that he may someday need the money after leaving the royal family.
“They’re surviving off of the money Diana left for Harry, “’I think she saw it coming,’” Ms Obell wrote, reflecting what many were thinking with one word: “WHEW.”
As the couple faces wave after wave of media scrutiny, comparisons to Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, also cropped up. During the conversation , Prince Harry said he long feared “history repeating itself”, with Meghan facing the same kind of ravenous press his mother did before she died in a car crash in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi. Many online reflected on the country’s experience with Diana, and how those lessons applied today.
“I recall when Diana died, the princes were in isolation in Balmoral but they had to be dragged back to London so the British public could see the “boys public sadness” to satiate their need for some weird grief porn that was gripping the nation,” wrote comedian Janey Godley.
“As a Brit, I feel it’s important to say, many of us believe Meghan & Harry. We remember how Diana was treated. We know how The Firm operate. The ones who believe the media & The Firm, tend to be right wingers, racists & Brexiteers. Not all Brits,” wrote @JamesPrescott77.
The late princess was such a heavy presence throughout the interview one Twitter posted a video of a ghost from the animated classic Spirited Away chasing the Queen through the halls of Buckingham Palace.
There seemed to be a general consensus that the press had not quite gotten it right when covering the royals, allowing the hunger for tabloid drama to demoralise the people they were covering. One could see this dynamic in the enthusiastic reception to an old interview clip of Harry, talking about how nice it is to be away from the papers of England while completing his military service.
“I don’t want to sit around at Windsor,” Harry says in the clip, which has more than 350,000 views. “I just generally don’t like England that much, and it’s nice to be away from all the press and the papers and all the sh** that they write.”
For everyone feasting on the gossip or reflecting history, it seemed there were just as many online arguing that the whole affair was getting far too much attention.
With much of the world’s population still not vaccinated for Covid, many thought the media focus should not be on a pair of royal individuals, but the raging pandemic.
“This is exactly why this #HarryandMeghanonOprah interview is going to have the opposite effect that they intended Ordinary people just threw up in their mouths a little watching them tell their woe is me story, having $10 million and free mansions to live in during covid,” Twitter user @kayee9999 as the television special progressed.
“Is it just me but,” user @naniftrauts added, “in a Covid world where countries are struggling with vaccines, people are dying, economies in huge debt and people are losing their livelihoods, isn’t #HarryandMeghanonOprah just totally irrelevant indulgence on their part?”
Numerous users thought more scrutiny should go towards Prince Andrew, over his alleged links with Jeffrey Epstein and the allegation of abuse against him, which he and the palace emphatically deny.
“Really not interested in this,” @Sctotsterahoy wrote. “Would like to see a trial though.”
The criticisms were not just abstract: some went directly at the royal couple, and the crown at large, over the subject of the interview.
Writer Craig Stone noted that at the end of the day, despite all the Duke and Duchess have faced, they are still extremely privileged outcasts from an extremely family.
“I look forward to watching a billionaire question two millionaires on how hard it’s been leaving billionaires, to continue being millionaires,” he wrote ahead of the show airing. “Thoughts & prayers to Harry and Meghan in this difficult time, as they adapt to new staff AND a new mansion.”
Some saw a note of hypocrisy in taking to the media to vent about the frustrations of living life in the spotlight of the media.
“Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey is set to be the TV viewing appointment of the year – possibly the decade. This being the couple who fled the UK to enjoy a ‘quiet life’…” wrote @lacey_butcher
Piers Morgan was even more critical, suggesting Meghan, a former actress, was once again pretending during her interview.
“Is it too late for Oscar nominations? #meghan” the presenter wrote.
Finally, there were those tired of the royals altogether, like @LisatheSimpson, who wrote, “I hope this marks the start of a nation questioning the institutions and norms it accepts as parts of British life. We should be ashamed we still have a monarchy, we should be ashamed that this couple were hounded out of the country.”
One in five Brits would abolish the monarchy, found a 2020- poll
According to a 2020-YouGov poll, 22% of Britons agreed with the idea of abolishing the monarchy.
Support for the Queen and her descendants remained high despite the scandal around Prince Andrew.
YouGov polled more than 3,100 people and weighted the results, finding that 62% of British adults thought the country should still have a monarchy.
But 22% thought it should not, and 16% did not know.
The poll came after Labour leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy said she would vote to abolish the monarchy in a referendum.
She said it was not a priority and admitted she would like to see Queen Meghan.
The south, excluding London, had the biggest support for the monarchy, at 69%, but all English and Welsh regions were above 50%.
Most of the objection came from Scotland, where 44% of people said the monarchy should stay, and 34% think it should be abolished.
Male and female support was about equal (61% and 64%), though a higher percentage of men (25%) think it should abolished, compared to women (18%).
Conservative voters are most likely to support the Queen, at 82%, but even a majority of Labour voters (52%) back the monarchy, which might be a blow to Nandy’s support.
In the oldest age bracket (65+), 77% of people supported her, and in the youngest (18-24) there was 57% support.
Support waned among those aged 25-49, dropping to 52% but picked back up to 69% in those aged 50-65.
She had to pull her son Andrew back from the front line of royal work after an interview in which he failed to show remorse for his friendship with the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
A suggestion for the royal family
Camilla Tominey wrote in The Telegraph on March 8, 2021:
“We knew it was going to be blockbuster TV. But what we didn’t anticipate about the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ Oprah interview is how unvarnished their ‘truth’ was actually going to be.
“From Meghan’s revelation that she was almost driven to suicide by being in the Royal family, to the astonishing claim that Harry was questioned about the potential colour of Archie’s skin, it’s fair to say this two-hour tell-all represented a worst-case scenario for what the couple kept referring to as The Firm.”
The article – “Forget hiding behind the sofa, the Royal family needed a bullet-proof vest as Harry and Meghan let rip” – said:
“Talk of Royals ‘hiding behind the sofa’ ahead of the primetime, no-holds-barred chat appeared to underestimate quite what the couple had in store.
“At first, it seemed as if Meghan casually letting slip that she and Harry were secretly ‘married’ by the Archbishop of Canterbury three days before their actual wedding day in Windsor in May 2018 would be the biggest marmalade dropper of the morning.”
It said:
“Contrary to reports, which first surfaced in the Daily Telegraph in November 2018, that Meghan had made Kate cry during a bridesmaids’ dress fitting, the former actress insisted it was actually the other way round.
Implying a distinct lack of sisterly support from the mother-of-three, even when ‘everything was going on with my Dad’, Meghan insisted: “I’m not sharing that in any way to be disparaging about her,” adding: ‘I would hope that she would want that to be corrected.’
“One can only begin to wonder what Carol-with-an-e might make of that suggestion over in Bucklebury – let alone those picking up the pieces at Kensington Palace right now.
“And to think the Duchess reportedly thought there was still hope of reconciliation before CBS went to air at 8pm US time, 1am GMT?”
The article said:
“Those already doubting whether there would ever be any way back into the royal fold for the Montecito Two – also dubbed ‘Duchess Difficult’ and “The Hostage” by palace staff – had their worst suspicions confirmed when Meghan then went on to accuse the Royal family, their staff and the British press of being, well, outright racists.
“Not only had Archie been denied a title and his own security detail – but an extraordinary conversation had also taken place behind palace gates about how dark his skin might be when he was born.
“Harry was later invited to expand on the issue but declined to do so, leaving the viewer guessing as to who the hell came out with this.
“Meghan said: “Those were conversations family had with him,” but Harry refused to elaborate. The unfortunate inference was that Prince Philip may have put his foot in his mouth again, while the 99-year-old was in his hospital bed 5,400 miles away.
“Or perhaps it was the wearer of ‘racist’ brooches, Princess Michael of Kent? As we are never likely to know, we may as well consider them all white supremacists along with any journalist who has ever written anything vaguely negative about them.”
It added:
“You would have had to have a heart of stone not to sympathise and feel real sorrow as she detailed how she ‘didn’t want to be alive any more’ and told Harry before being forced to smile through an engagement at the Royal Albert Hall: ‘I can’t be left alone.’
“Make no mistake, this was a pregnant woman blaming the institution – and those within it – for failing to help her at her lowest ebb.
“The final nail in the unfeeling Windsors’ sarcophagus was driven home by Harry’s revelation that his father had stopped returning his phone calls in the run up to Megxit and had really let him down. Meghan’s own fractured relationship with her father, Thomas Markle Snr, only merited passing mention with the tragic words: ‘I lost my Dad.’
“Ever sacrosanct on the throne, the Queen appeared the only attendee of the so-called ‘Sandringham Summit’ to emerge unscathed.”
Camilla Tominey wrote:
“Meghan went into the Royal family so naively she didn’t realise she had to curtsey to the Queen – yet told ITV’s Tom Bradby in October 2018: ‘My British friends said to me, I’m sure he’s great, but don’t do it because the British tabloids will destroy your life.’”
It said:
“The most important title to Meghan is “Mom” and yet she wanted her son to be a prince, despite allowing it to be widely briefed that he’d be called ‘Master Mountbatten Windsor’ so he could live like a ‘private citizen.’”
It said:
“The multimillionaires were forced to sign deals with Netflix and Spotify because they didn’t have any money, even though they had Harry’s inheritance from Princess Diana.
“Meghan was not the driving force behind them stepping down as senior Royals, but Harry would never have done it without her. Oh and the Duchess did not have access to her own car keys, even though Royals regularly drive themselves about the place. (The less mention of the ‘holiday parties’ at Buckingham Palace that Meghan claimed journalists, excluding this one, were invited to, the better. I went there once, for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012, m’lud.)”
The article said:
“Yet as Harry made so plain, his Royal relatives are ‘trapped within the system.’ They cannot sit down with Oprah for two hours and give their side of the story.
“Thankfully, for the Sussexes, this fairy tale does have a happy ending, however. As they walk away from the wreckage of their time in the Royal family – and the relatives they have left behind – towards the LA sunset, like the closing scene of a Hollywood movie, they are ‘not just surviving, but thriving.’”
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