Republic, a group dedicated to abolishing the monarchy, has demanded the Government hold a public vote on whether Britons would like to see the Firm continue or scrapped. CEO Graham Smith, in favour of an elected head of state, said, “there should be a referendum on whether or not we have a monarchy”.
Express.co.uk conducted an exclusive poll asking readers if they backed the idea of calling Britons to the ballot box to vote on the Royal Family.
The majority of readers who responded rejected Mr Smith’s demand, with some saying they would rather have a Queen or King on the throne than a president.
Seventy-one percent (2,748) said a referendum should not be held on the future of the monarchy.
Just 28 percent (1,075) backed the call for a public vote while only one percent (46) said they didn’t know.
In comments, many readers unleashed their fury at anti-monarchists for putting out such calls given that the Queen is in her Nineties.
One royal fan accused Republicans of “winding her up” as she nears the end of her reign.
They wrote: “So now our loyal and much-loved Queen has reached her twilight years, someone decides to wind her up with talks of scrapping the monarchy.”
They added: “Do we need a referendum – NO we most certainly do not.”
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A second said: “We definitely need our monarchy, the alternative is not worth thinking about.”
And another said the UK has “the best of both worlds” with a Prime Minister and a Queen.
They said presidents have been known to “get too big for their boots and cost a flipping fortune”.
The reader also said they doubted a president would garner the same attention and publicity from tourists as the royals do, thus impacting the tourism sector.
They wrote: “Who wants to come and see the President and spend money?
“We want continuity in our monarchy that moves with the times but does not interfere. Try that with a president.”
But a handful of others argued that it is high time the Royal Family are removed from their seats of authority and influence.
One reader questioned why the UK “should always have a Royal Family” given the fact they were not elected by public votes.
And another said they could see anti-royal sentiment “slowly creeping” into society as they predicted a fall in public support for the Firm when Prince Charles ascends the throne.
The poll ran from 10.40am to 8.30pm on Monday, February 1. A total of 3,869 readers took part.
