I have historically been a "soft" monarchist. I think the monarchy has considerable soft power benefits and makes a great tourist attraction. I started going off it a bit though seeing just how much the cost was in relation to other European monarchies.
And then this whole "swearing allegiance" thing has rather crystallised it for me. Will I swear personal allegiance to Charles Windsor? No, of course I won't, he has no more right to my allegiance than does my next door neighbour. And therefore how can I consider it right that he is "my" king?
I can't, of course. It follows that I must believe that disestablishment of the monarchy is what should happen. So there's my changed opinion for today.
@VoxDei I have a soft spot for Charles dating back to when we were both at (different) prep schools that played each other at Rugby. Like me he took environmental concerns seriously & until recently was often sneakily pro Welsh DevoMax.
But his making his son PoW, as one of his first actions, though that may have been his advisors' (The PM) fault....
If this was his, not PM's choice then I suspect, he wanted a shrugged indifference & majority to ignore it, so the monarchy changes from inside.
@epistatacadam I have a certain amount of respect for him as a person. As you say, environmental concerns, plus he's had to spend his whole life in his mother's shadow and now in her shoes. Not easy. But I have respect for lots of people without developing an urge to swear allegiance to them.
