‘Why do you hate the Monarchy? Why do you hate your Country?!’

Let’s address this. Firstly, I do not hate anyone or anything. I have nothing but respect for the late Queen, who devoted her life to service and conducted herself with the grace and dignity befitting the role. A role that she was not born to do until the abdication of her uncle, and one which she probably wouldn’t have chosen for herself. Charles seems to be cut of the same cloth and appears to be a reasonably decent guy for someone who grew up in castles. I certainly don’t hate them.

And I don’t hate the country – quite the opposite in fact. It’s an interesting accusation.

We often scoff at our cousins across the pond when it comes to gun control. How ridiculous, we say, that they’ve collectively coupled the ideas of individual freedom and personal firearm ownership. Absolute Insanity! And yet we do the same thing. In the US, it’s freedom and guns, here it’s patriotism and monarchy. It’s brainwashed into us from an early age that the country and monarchy are intertwined, essentially two parts of the same entity, and one cannot exist without the other…

And there’s a good reason for this. It’s not so much the concept of an unelected Head of State that’s the problem with Monarchy, but more the legitimacy it gives to the one thing that continues to hold Britain back in the 21st Century. It is the Keystone of the Class System. It is the solid foundation that legitimises the Lords and Ladies and the hording of resources and power by the chosen few.

You cannot support the Monarchy – the idea of a person being at the top due to birth and therefore anointed by God – without also supporting the very system that sustains it. By supporting the Monarchy, you also support the Aristocracy owning 70% of the land. You support the nepotism of the political class; the idea that some people are better than others purely due to birth; the institutions like Eton and other boys’ clubs that enable them; the suffocation of social mobility and progression; the talentless, intellectually void people that succeed purely because of their accents and connections. You support all this. It is enabled by your royal subjugation.

Do I hate the Monarchy? As people, no. I dislike what they represent, and the institutions and mindsets their existence supports and legitimises.

Do I hate my Country? No. I want it to be the best country it can be.

I want to have a country I’m proud of, that leads the world in social progress, not one that’s stuck in the past clinging on to some rose-tinted version of itself. I want to be proud of meaningful, positive contributions that improve the lives of millions, not jewel-encrusted crowns or any other shiny thing designed to distract the attention of the very people they were stolen from in the first place. The same people who continue to be pillaged and trodden over for the benefit of those lucky enough to be born into the ruling classes. Those who apparently have to accept that they are worse off now, whilst their Superiors cash in their recently uncapped city bonuses and lucrative government contracts, or even get to ride around in solid gold carriages. They’re better than you. They don’t count.

Whilst we continue to have a King, the Keystone that holds it all together, this can never change, and Britain will be forever held back. This doesn’t have to be. One day, I would love to wave my flag proudly.

Today is not the day.