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Thursday, June 9, 2016

Republicans Rally As Queen Celebrates Birthday

Anti-monarchy campaigners say they will be using the Queen's 90th birthday celebrations to draw attention to why Britain should scrap its hereditary monarchy.

The group Republic are encouraging hashtags such as #stopthereign and #bornequal across social media.

They are also holding their own people's picnic in Kensington Palace gardens as a weekend of celebrations is planned for her Majesty's official birthday.

Campaigners say they appreciate people will want to mark the birthday, but they don't believe it should be used to promote the Royal Family and an unelected head of state.

Lifelong republican Alastair Campbell wrote a book about some of the world's most successful people and couldn't avoid adding the Queen.

He told Sky News: "I think there are still republicans, people who want to get rid of the Monarchy, but I think she's seen them off for a generation and more.

"I think a lot of that is about her ... not just the longevity but the fact that she is who she is and done what she's done.

"And it's worth remembering it's not that long ago that they were in a bit of trouble. What's more, they thought they were in a bit of trouble and they had to strategise, plan and adapt their way out of it.

"I think she personally has been a very big part of that."

Dympna Messanger is a member of Republic and regularly goes out leafleting to get people talking about the inequalities of a hereditary monarchy.

Explaining why she joined the group, she said: "This lot (the Royal Family), we're stuck with them forever, it just seems to me grotesquely unfair that this family are born into this immense privilege and wealth.

"I just don't see how it can be justified."

Republic say they currently have 5,000 paying members, with 35,000 registered supporters. Events like the Queen's birthday often help to boost those numbers.

However, a recent poll from Ipsos Mori found 86% of people were satisfied with the job the Queen does as Monarch, with 76% happy with the role carried out by Prince William and 71% supporting what Prince Charles does.

A Sky Data poll also revealed strong support for the monarchy.

Outlining the results, Sky data analyst Harry Carr said: "Some 72% of young people aged 18-34 support the monarchy, compared with 66% of those aged 55 or over.

"One in five Britons would like the UK to become a republic (22%), while 5% say they don't know and 2% say they would not vote in a referendum on the subject.

"Scots are markedly less likely to support the monarchy than the rest of the country, however, and would narrowly vote to retain the monarchy 47% to 41%."

Graham Smith from Republic admits respect for the Queen, who last year became Britain's longest reigning monarch, does at times make their campaigning more difficult.

He said: "Most people are sympathetic to the Queen and that is an obstacle that we have to get over, but it doesn't make it a particularly tough job because there are a lot of other issues around the Monarchy: secrecy, misuse of public money, the power of the politicians that they draw from the Crown, a lot of things that we can campaign on."

Campaign group Labour for a Republic, which is allied to Republic, is organising a people's picnic on Sunday in Kensington Gardens.

The free event is being put on as an alternative to the Patron's Lunch, which also takes place on Sunday afternoon - the largest-ever street party to be held on the Mall to celebrate the Queen's charity work.

:: Sky Data interviewed a nationally representative sample of 1,009 Sky customers by SMS on 9 June 2016. Data is weighted to the profile of the population. For full Sky Data tables, please click here.

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