You can get The National’s Real Scottish Politics newsletter free and direct to your inbox every weekday. To sign up, click HERE and click the + button.
THE King and Queen have been here in Scotland all week to celebrate the country’s culture and community and underline their role in civic life.
Oh, what’s that you say? You didn’t know?
Well, it does seem as though Royal Week – also known as Holyrood Week – has fallen rather flat.
Normally, we see pretty extensive coverage of what the King and Queen are up to, but there have been minimal news stories this year, with the Daily Mail seemingly more interested in Prince William helping to carry a chair up some stairs.
READ MORE: Why the Kate Forbes row matters to the SNP and Scottish independence
The most high-profile story that came out of the week was Camilla meeting JK Rowling, where they apparently discussed the importance of young people having access to books.
Is this now a sign that the monarchy needs a major celebrity to attract the same level of attention they once did?
There was all sorts of other engagements on the King and Queen’s agenda, but very few of them flashed up significantly on anyone’s radar, though the pictures of Charles kicking off a traditional game of hand ba’ in Jedburgh were quite amusing.
What caused more of a stir were the anti-monarchy protesters who shouted “Not My King” and held up placards saying “What did you know?” – in reference to the former prince Andrew’s friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – as the royals went past in a motorcade outside the Order of the Thistle service.
The Daily Express focused on the protest in the headline of their story on the service, which just shows you they are now much more interesting and relevant than the pomp and pageantry of the royals. The article contained a few pictures of the service, but seemingly there was not a lot else to report on.
Gone are the days where the mainstream press opted to ignore these demonstrations. They know all too well now that they reflect the overwhelming sentiment of the public.
Gillian Grant, who took part in the protest for Republic, said the royal show was “a very dreich little event”.
“Even the tourists watching it did not seem very impressed,” she said.
READ MORE: Nigel Farage reported to standards watchdog over ‘crypto lobbying’
“Probably because a dozen cars driving up the Royal Mile is not a particularly spectacular sight.
“[There was] limited clapping and no cheering. It seems excessive to close the Mile for hours, forbid local cafes to put tables on the pavements for two days and put up hundreds of crowd control barriers.”
We have known for some time now that the royals’ popularity has been on the decline. In February, a survey carried out by Savanta showed that just 45% of the public back keeping the monarchy.
Their support has been severely hit by the Andrew scandal and what looks like a lack of transparency over what was known by the family and when.
It is becoming clear too that people are so worried about the cost of living and the geopolitical state of the world that two people in their late 70s wandering about Edinburgh in costumes desperately trying to cling on to relevance is just not important to them.
Is it any surprise that they struggle to resonate when the top news line from the presentation of the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards was that Edward presented his daughter with a certificate?
Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor wasn’t even one of more than 600 young people who achieved the award this year, so why are we talking about her and not them?
Scottish anti-monarchy group Our Republic said about the week: “This irrelevance [of the monarchy] is finally dawning on our wider media and political landscape – as the pomp and display of wealth of the garden party is also not being widely reported to a public more concerned about their rising energy bills.
“It is clear the monarchy has no plan B, the only communication with ordinary people they understand is to try and distract them with displays of their wealth and opulence.
“A truly democratic Scotland would end this antiquated farce and celebrate the democratic values intrinsic in our history.”
All the while, the royal family’s funding is set to double to around £100 million a year via the Sovereign Grant.
The lack of spark lit by this Holyrood Week should prove once and for all this is no longer a good use of our money. Scots are losing interest and it is time to move on.
You can get The National’s Real Scottish Politics newsletter free and direct to your inbox every weekday. To sign up, click HERE and click the + button.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.thenational.scot ’
