A growing minority want an elected head of state – and some feel ‘shaken’ by treatment of anti-monarchists
Timothy Parker feels ambivalent about the events of the last week. “On the one hand,” the 21-year-old says, “someone of unquestionable importance has died.” On the other, the blanket coverage of royal affairs – “royals with flowers, royals with pens, royals with letters” – has left him frustrated.
While he is respectful of those in mourning and understands that the death of the Queen is a historic event, he finds the pomp and ceremony during a cost of living crisis “infuriating”. “I’m aware that part of it is symbolic, but don’t those symbolic acts just reinforce the underlying class hierarchies that are so plain to see?” he says.
