Another royal mess
Simon Hobson
The latest scandal around Prince Andrew isn’t just one man’s shame. It’s a warning. The royal household is rotten, unaccountable, and out of touch with modern democracy. For Wales, a nation rediscovering its own political voice, the question is clear: why do we still subjugate ourselves to it?
Virginia Giuffre’s posthumous memoir has reignited scrutiny of Andrew’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Once again, the monarchy is drowning in disgrace. Seven hundred and forty-one years after Cymru was forced under English rule, we are still subjects of the English Crown. That should shame us.
Our public institutions answer to voters. The royals answer to no one.
The case for a Welsh Republic
Across Britain, belief in the monarchy is collapsing. The latest NatCen survey recorded the lowest support in its history, and a rising appetite for republican alternatives. The Crown’s authority is cracking. If its power rests on public consent, that consent has all but vanished. Wales should seize this moment, not shy away from it.
There are three clear reasons for change: democracy, self-determination, and moral decency.
1. Democracy first: An elected head of state serves the people. A monarch serves only tradition. Wales now has a mature democracy, a Senedd that makes real laws and shapes lives. Yet our head of state is still chosen by birth. It’s a contradiction we can’t defend. A Welsh republic would put leadership where it belongs: in the hands of the people.
2. Self-determination: Wales is already making independent choices on tax, health, and education. Why should our head of state represent a United Kingdom that has failed our communities, our young people, and our future? Even senior figures in Westminster now openly discuss independence, republicanism and the end of the United Kingdom. In that conversation, Wales should lead, finishing the democratic project we began when we created our own Senedd.
3. Moral responsibility: Prince Andrew’s saga exposes a deeper rot: privilege without consequence. The Crown hides behind secrecy and soft power. Scandal never brings accountability. A Welsh republic, built on law and equality, would strip away that immunity. No one above the law. No family beyond scrutiny. That’s how a decent country works.
Answering the doubters
Some will say we should keep the monarchy for the sake of tourism, history, or stability. But these are excuses, not arguments. Modern republics thrive with ceremony intact. Presidents in Ireland and Germany carry out symbolic roles with dignity and democracy.
Wales could do the same, keeping castles and pageantry while ending inherited rule. Let’s stop pretending that republicanism means chaos. It means political accountability. A Wales in which profits from the Crown Estate and our resource go into a Welsh sovereign wealth fund: money for building Cymru’s future not balancing London’s books and private wealth.
Republicanism doesn’t erase our history; it finally lets us own it.
A chance to lead
Support for the monarchy is fading across Britain. Wales can lead this change: calmly, confidently, democratically. We don’t need to wait for London to give permission. We can start with a cross-party constitutional convention to design a Welsh republic that fits our values: open, fair, and accountable.
This isn’t about one prince. It’s about power: who holds it, and who answers for it. The royal system has protected privilege for centuries. It still does. Every new scandal proves the same point: a system built on inherited power will always protect itself first.
The tide is turning. The monarchy is losing its moral authority. The idea of independence is growing. And republican movements in Wales are gathering momentum. We can keep waiting for the next royal disgrace or we can act with purpose.
Now is the moment for:
- a national conversation,
- a citizens’ assembly,
- a referendum,
- a new beginning.
Wales doesn’t need a king. It needs courage and the confidence to stand as a modern republic.
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Hear, hear,well said. It’s abiut time we got rid of this privilaged institution and consigned it to the dust bin.
Doesn’t a grown man look ridiculous dressed up like that!!
Hard to say which is more pathetic – Chad’s outfit or the excess of gold leaf and curlicues behind him. Looks about as tasteful as Trump’s “improvements” to the White house
A vision of irrelevance.
Alleged high office of any kind usually involves silly clothing.
I posted this on another thread re the monarchy, Andrew in particular. ******************* I watched a youtube video this evening titled ‘Royal Security Officer on Life Inside the Royal Family’. It highlighted what an utterly useless piece of human excrement this cretin is. To think that they refused to let the Senedd have the income from the Crown Estates in Wales for the benefit of Welsh people while allowing this parasite to have access to that money is disgusting. If it was down to me i’d strip him of everything and let him live on his Navy pension of £20,000… Read more »
I agree with most of this article.
However, it is just as important to replace the unelected House of Lords with
a chamber of representatives from the regions based on the Deutsche Bundesrat.
A national parliament must at all times be accountable to the assemblies of the local regions through direct representation.
It also means that Wales and Scotland should also have a bundesrat for its own system of government.
Why would you prefer that structure to, for instance, a unicameral structure in Wales?
The article is dead right Cymru can’t wait for authorization from London or for it to act. The British establishment is all tied together money feeding money, royals mixing with politicians, all the fingers in the same pie, and that’s not going to change any time soon. In Cymru, little of this money comes out way, if we have an opportunity to change it here – we must.
The UK has become decrepit. The people who believe in their entitlement have had too much influence and power for generations. The Crown Estate income is one symbol of the discrepancies in our society. Wales has been stripped of its wealth, both mineral human for ages, without recompense or restitution for the damage caused, eg, s**g heaps.
The inferior Barnett Settlement is yet another example of the disdain with which Westminster regards the Welsh. It’s time for Cymru to stand up resolutely for its rights.
This 76 yr old is up for it,every step of the way,we need to get on with it,and make the declaration asap,Please!!
That’s the sort of CTA everyone in Wales ought to be declaring!
Fantastic!
The royal family, that self-perpetuating dynasty, is an archaic, undemocratic and privileged institution. Since the 1689 Bill of Rights transferred its power to govern to parliament, it has effectively had no useful function. It should have been abolished then. Instead, it is still endowed with extreme wealth including possessing and maintaining 25 royal residences. William, the – so-called – Prince of Wales is the 23rd English incumbent. The first was the son of Edward I whose purpose was to rub salt in the wound of Wales being conquered by England in 1282. The rubbing continues.
Inspirational Mr Hobson. More of this anytime, daily if possible.
Let’s hope the Editor is reading your comment.
Diolch !
Why are the two main Welsh nationalist parties, Plaid Cymru and Gwlad, not republican parties?
Do you think Wales has space and need for a centrist Republican Party?
The Monarchy needs to be consigned to the history books. No longer can those defend such an undemocratic system where you are born to rule.
James Keir Hardie once described monarchy as a system of government belonging to the infancy of the human race.
I’d not heard this. I like it very much. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
If ever more evidence is needed (which it isn’t) that Wales must get rid of the king it’s in this piece from the New Statesman (link to YouTube)
https://youtu.be/F2Ww_82ifhg?si=1nLJfYbNSUt117T4
Diolch yn fawr for the kind comments on the writing. Let’s see Republic Cymru happen !