Nicola Sturgeon is laying out her reasoning for abolishing the monarchy ― and it starts with Prince George.
Scotland’s former first minister ― and prominent advocate for Scottish independence ― spoke about doing away with the monarchy in a new Channel 4 documentary, “The Royals: Time To Go?”
“I would say one of the arguments for getting rid of the monarchy is for the sake of members of the royal family, like Prince George, for example,” Sturgeon said in the program, led by presenter John Humphrys, who is a lifelong supporter of a republic.
“That kid doesn’t know any different. He has a certain life ahead of him that he has no choice over. Is that really fair?” Sturgeon questioned.
“And so, I actually think it is one of the arguments for getting rid of the monarchy, to free the future members of the royal family from carrying that burden,” she added, saying she feels “huge sympathy” for the royals.
Graham Smith, leader of the anti-monarchy group Republic, told HuffPost via email that “the royals clearly haven’t learnt any lessons from Harry and continue to use their kids as PR props.”
“It cannot be healthy for children to be paraded about in gold carriages, but the royals just can’t help themselves,” Smith said. “There are lots of better reasons for getting rid of the monarchy, like giving ourselves a fairer and more robust democracy. But clearly the monarchy cannot be good for the kids and they tend to grow up as dysfunctional adults.”
Prince Harry spoke of being “trapped” in the royal family during his bombshell sit-down with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.
“I was trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are,” he said. “My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that.”
When Winfrey asked if Harry would’ve left the royal family eventually without Meghan, he said no.
“I wouldn’t have been able to, because I myself was trapped as well,” he shared at the time. “I didn’t see a way out. I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped.”
Harry has also spoken about how Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis’ upbringing might be affected by The Firm.
“And though William and I have talked about it, once or twice, and he has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility, I still feel a responsibility,” Harry said in an interview with Bryony Gordon promoting his memoir, “Spare,” in 2023.
“I know that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare. And that hurts, it worries me,” he said at the time.
