People of Wales believe the Royal Family receives too much money, poll shows

The people of Wales remain supportive overall of the Royal Family but believe that they receive too much money, polling has revealed.

The data gathered by the Welsh Election Study also shows that support for republicanism was higher among the younger generation, those who identify as Welsh rather than British, and those who speak Welsh.

Writing in the magazine Barn, Prof. Richard Wyn Jones, Director of Cardiff University’s Wales Governance Centre, said that the poll showed that some “distance” had grown between Welshness and the monarchy.

“There is a very clear majority in favour of the continuation of the establishment, and the plans of the prospective King Charles III to trim the ranks may be just enough to allay concerns about the cost of the establishment,” he said.

“Yet something significant has changed in terms of the relationship between Welshness and the royals. A growing distancing can be seen.

“It may not be apparent during the Jubilee celebrations of 2022, but the grip of royalty and its charm is slowly retreating back into the Anglo-British core of the state.”

He said that the results showed that the Welsh electorate strongly believes that the royal family receives too much money.

“Indeed, almost four times as many people agree with the statement that the royal family receives too much money than do those who disagree,” he said.

“Even including those who do not know or do not agree or disagree with the statement, those who believe that too much is spent on the monarchy represents an absolute majority of the electorate of Wales.”

Richard Wyn Jones said that analysing the responses to the question about the principle of monarchism revealed interesting differences in age, national identity and language.

“In each case, they are significant differences,” he said.

“In terms of age, as you might expect, the older generation is very supportive of the existence of kingship. Indeed, the level of unanimity among the members of this generation borders on the unnatural!

“But not so among younger members. Among the younger electorate, not only is there much greater uncertainty, but support for an elected head is higher than support for the principle of kingship.

“Yet, I’m far from sure that there is much comfort to offer republicans even from focusing solely on the young. Time will tell, but I wouldn’t be surprised if many of these become more partisan of the monarchy as they age.”

Language

Richard Wyn Jones added that there was also a clear correlation between British identity and monarchism and a strong Welsh identity and support for a republic.

“In short, those who are ardent Britons – whether British Welsh (people who feel Welsh and British) or strong British only – are very likely to be royalists,” he said.

“However, this is not the case with their compatriots who advocate their Welsh identity. Indeed, among those who feel Welsh but not British there is a majority who support the principle of an elected head rather than a king or queen as head of state.

“Given the close relationship between Welsh identity and the Welsh language, it is not surprising that we also find a significant relationship between constituents’ ability to speak the language and their attitudes towards the monarchy.

“Yet, the fact remains that more fluent Welsh speakers favour a monarchy than support the principle of a republic.”

Richard Wyn Jones said that the answer to the question about how long the monarchy would survive made it clear that most people expected it to be around in the long term.

“Looking at the data, my conclusion, at least, is that most of our compatriots find it difficult to imagine any regime other than monarchy existing in the foreseeable future,” he said.

“In summary, it is fair to say that the majority of the electorate of Wales are desiring and expect to see the monarchy continue for quite a while, but to reduce spending on the organization.”