Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 1, 1993 TAG: 9306010069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON LENGTH: Medium
Anti-monarchy sentiment is growing in Britain, and there is lusty debate in the pubs, press and palaces of the realm about the royal family's future.
For the first time since 1936, when King Edward VIII rocked the nation by abdicating, there is serious talk of abolishing the 1,100-year-old monarchy in favor of an elected president.
"Last year basically marked the end of the monarchy as we know it," said Andrew Morton, a former tabloid journalist whose biography of Princess Diana destroyed the myth that the House of Windsor was one big, happy family.
Even the queen called 1992 her "horrible year."
Instead of proudly celebrating 40 unblemished years on the throne, she saw the marriages of three of her four children end in divorce or separation.
Intimate, sometimes earthy, photographs and telephone conversations attributed to the royals were published around the world.
To rally support for the tarnished crown, the queen agreed to pay income tax for the first time and to open her Buckingham Palace to tourists.
Even though Elizabeth personally remains popular, many Britons see the monarchy as an expensive anachronism. In a very un-British manner, they have started saying so in public.
Newspapers are full of it, and at least 10 new books about the royals are jockeying for position on the bestseller list.
Gallup's pollsters, sensing a change, asked Britons for the first time in December 1992 whether they favored abolishing the monarchy. Of the 1,000 people polled, 24 percent did, 69 percent did not and 6 percent didn't care.
"It's the sort of question that nobody dared even ask about a few years ago," said Graham Williams, a senior researcher for the polling firm.
In a new poll for The Guardian newspaper, published Saturday, 52 percent did not feel the monarchy was as relevant as in 1953. Half of the 1,400 people polled in a survey that had a 3 percent margin of error said the cost of the monarchy should be cut.
by CNB