We asked Welsh people their opinion on the coronation. Here’s what they told us
We wanted to take stock of Welsh attitudes towards the monarchy as the coronation of King Charles III divides opinion across the country so we asked for your thoughts on the event and invited our readers to take part in two Twitter polls.
The coronation is rumoured to cost in the region of £100m and will be paid for by the UK Government using tax payers money at a time when the country is in the midst of a cost of living crisis.
A recent YouGov survey of 3000 adults found that 35% said they “do not care very much” about the coronation and 29% said they “do not care at all”.
Earlier this week there was public outcry when people were invited to take part in a citizenship ceremony involving swearing allegiance to the King and loyalty to the UK during the coronation on Saturday (May 6).
The Archbishop himself clarified that the oath is an “invitation” and not mandatory.
The new Homage of the People will replace the traditional Homage of Peers, which traditionally saw a line of hereditary peers kneel to make a pledge to the newly crowned monarch.
Oath
In English the oath reads: I, (name), swear by Almighty God that, on becoming a British citizen, I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III, His Heirs and Successors, according to law.
The Welsh version of the oath contained a mistake in the translation which called for people to literally curse at God.
Wales’ eduction minister Jeremy Miles has since written to the UK Government to remind them of the importance of using the correct language.
In our first Twitter poll we asked: “People of Wales, do you think the public should swear their allegiance to Charles as he is crowned King?”
7196 votes were cast and 95.6% of participants voted ‘no’.
It’s worth noting that Twitter polls are not weighted in any way and are self selecting which can potentially make them biased.
But as voters were also invited to give their reasons for their votes in the comment section and contribute to the debate, the poll has value as a snapshot of several thousand people.
Comments
Welsh Lib Dem Councillor, Peter Black said: “How can you democratise a medieval ritual in which the beneficiary is appointed through an accident of birth, privilege and wealth, without a single vote being cast?”
#FBIW Welsh Rugby Mad dragon said: “I won’t swear allegiance to any person, especially someone who is only where they are because of birthright. Someone who contributes little but thinks they are entitled because of who they are. My allegiance is to my family and my country and that country is Wales.”
Director of Yes Cymru, Ethan Jones said: “I don’t think the public should swear allegiance, unless an individual really wants to of course. It’s 2023; being expected to swear allegiance to a man as your head of state on the sole basis of him being the eldest sibling of a certain family, shouldn’t be a thing. I would prefer a head of state who is elected to serve a fixed term by the people. This clearly is not possible as members of the United Kingdom.”
Jenna Lewis said: “Any head of state should be swearing allegiance to their people, not the other way round. It is so outdated. Like many other Commonwealth states, Wales is considered by royals as something they own, nothing more.”
Dave Newton said: “I’d rather scoop my eyeball out with a rusty spoon”
Tradition
4.4% of people voted yes in the poll but no reasons for a ‘yes’ vote were offered in the comments section.
Saturday’s event will not make Charles the King as he is already the King and became so when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II died in September last year.
The coronation is a symbolic formality held months after the death of the Queen due to the tradition of allowing an appropriate length of time to pass after a monarch dies.
During the Christian ceremony, Charles will be crowned as part of a Holy Communion service.
He will be anointed with holy oil and swear an oath committing himself to making Britain a holy nation.
In Wales only 43.6% of people described their religion as “Christian” in the 2021 Census – the number had decreased in all Welsh local authorities between 2011 and 2021.
After Queen Elizabeth’s death last year, a poll by think tank British Future revealed that almost a quarter of of people in Wales felt the monarchy should end with the Queen.
Former North Wales Police Commissioner, Arfon Jones said: “As a committed lifetime Republican and socialist I am totally opposed to a hereditary head of state who is only there by an accident of birth and is wholly undemocratic. I firmly support that a head of state should be elected as is the President of Ireland.
“I don’t understand the subservience and sycophancy of supporters of the monarchy who want to celebrate an institution that has subjugated its subjects for generations. The celebration of a coronation is wholly irrational.”
Referendum
In the days running up to the King’s coronation we ran another Twitter poll.
We asked: “Would you vote to keep the monarchy if there was a referendum?”
5798 votes were cast and 88.1% of participants voted ‘no’.
“Honorary”
Andrew Bailey said: “Monarchy on a normal year brings in £1.3billion a year to the economy and costs the UK £350m per year. It’s a no brainer.”
Jose Julian JK Granados said: “As a Costa Rican who is a honorary Cymru, the monarchy is old stuff that doesn’t work in our days. We need every home nation to have the full control of each country. Prince of Wales is a name that disrespects our country.”
Brycheiniog am byth said: “Two reasons 1. They are the monarchy of an invading nation. 2. It’s the 21st century!”
Earlier this week a specially decorated Royal Mail postbox was placed outside the Owain Glyndwr pub in Cardiff.
It was plastered with Welsh independence and republican stickers within 24 hours of it being unveiled.
The stickers were cleaned off but within hours the postbox had been covered once again.
Public screenings of the coronation will be broadcast from the grounds of Cardiff Castle and a concert featuring Bryn Terfel and Tom Jones will take place at Roald Dahl Plass.
A “Not My King” protest is also set to take place in Cardiff on the same day with a march starting at the Aneurin Bevan statute on Queen Street.
Opinion
We asked Welsh people for their general opinion of the coronation.
Jason Morgan said “If the English want to keep their monarchy that’s completely fine with me, I genuinely don’t care. What I do care about is them being foisted on Wales; they’re not ours and never will be.”
Rhys Williams said: “I didn’t mind the Queen but it’s time for Wales to move on from the monarchy. The royals treat us as an afterthought. William had 40 years to prepare for the role and couldn’t be bothered to learn any Welsh or even celebrate Wales qualifying for the world cup.”
Neil Schofield-Hughes said: “I’m an English incomer to Wales. The coronation is IMO just irrelevant to Wales; a piece of backwards-looking pageantry masking a failing Westminster system; and judging from the general absence of bunting, Union flags etc in my corner of Cardiff (Canton) I guess I’m not alone.
TheSighsOfWales said: “Not my king, not my concern. What I find most offensive however is that over £100,000,000 of our money is being spent on the grotesque spectacle when there are thousands of households for whom even £100 would make a huge difference.”
Kerys Sheppard said: “I’m not against having an internationally visible and non-political Head of State. Would probably change the JD/ salary. If it was a toss up between The Sovereign occupying this role or a Prime Minister then, based on previous (and current) experience, I’d say get the crown on!”
Huw Rollinson said: “I’m for independence. However, think hard before junking the Monarchy. If not them then who? Because someone will replace them. I feel about them like I feel about our (Welsh) castles — former symbols of Saes oppression that we now ‘own’ and treasure. Think we have far worse foes.”
One commentator highlighted the extra bank holiday that comes with the coronation.
Gerallt said: “Personally I really don’t give a shit! I’ve got an extra paid day off to spend with my family”.
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
So the church is to bless the adulterer and his mistress – I think that is an insult to the next king of England’s mother.
That’s the Church of England in Wales for you! Founded by an adulterer!
Yep, they destroyed our Church in 800s and brought their perverted own into Wales in the 1900s. They often do this, they take or destroy something from Wales, only to give it back later on and claim they gave it to us.
It’s 2023, and we still have an unelected Head of State. Enough said. By the way, the country with the largest tourist industry in Europe, is wait for it, France. Do they have a monarchy?
Should we swear allegiance? Surely the answer is that, if an individual wants to, they should have the freedom to do so, but I won’t be. Heck, I won’t even be watching the thing.
This allegiance thing has been badly reported and what is an invitation has been described as mandatory.
Royal Family are not a good representation of UK because they don’t take part in so many of the UK’s laws including laws protecting from discrimination.
If anybody thinks the English Monarchy are good for trade or any other reason I would advise getting a copy of the Myth of the British Monarchy. This is a small but very thorough volume that shows that they fail to meet up to any of the suppoed benefits that people spout. Prof Edgar Wilson, as a former aero engineer, took a very careful and precise look at the evidence and founds no grounds for keeping them. His first edition is still to be had in second hand book shops or the updated version can be had direct from Republic.
It is a good day to remember William Jones Llangadfan and not this King of Greed and breaker of commandments whom we are all asked to worship by the Arch Oilman himself…
Morality have they none…
I started watching, it was so exciting, then I fell asleep, it feels like a Chistmas day afternoon after a big meal with all those choirs and then Sunak came on …yawn…
Wow, the last comment really sums up Wales quite a bit. They conveniently let go of hundreds of years of oppression to feel and share the worries of those who did the oppressing. Claiming Russia as dangerous while England and their politics are having such a dire effect on Wales is like worrying about a gangster living in America coming to Wales for a day trip while their is Released former K*ller living next door to you.
The monarchy is not a regional issue; it is a question of expecting reverence for the head of an Establishment. For the sake of the nation we are all expected to suspend disbelief. The honours system is a part of this.
To me the whole thing would be a joke but for the fact that it illustrates the malleability of the minds of the population.
There must be a national debate about this followed by a referendum.
You haven’t clarified which nation you refer to. And I don’t think anyone sees it as a regional issue.
That post box is going to end up like a miniature Berlin Wall. Spray cans at the ready!