Anti-Monarchy Group: Call for Public Allegiance to King Charles III, “Offensive, Contempt of People”

By Staff, Agencies

A British anti-monarchy group has slammed the call on Britons to swear allegiance to King Charles III during his coronation as an insult to the people.

The remark was made on Sunday by Graham Smith, a spokesman for the campaign group known as Republic, which advocates the replacement of the United Kingdom's monarchy with a parliamentary republic.

The plans to ask the public to pledge their allegiance to the king during the coronation are "offensive, tone-deaf and a gesture that holds the people in contempt," Smith said, adding, "In a democracy it is the head of state who should be swearing allegiance to the people, not the other way around."

Charles III's coronation ceremony is slated to take place on May 6-8.

The Republic's tirade came after the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who will lead the ceremony at Westminster Abbey, called on all Britons to swear allegiance to the king. So far, only the British nobility were expected to kneel before the king and pledge allegiance to him.

However, the archbishop's office said the traditional "Homage of Peers," whereby only the royals take the oath, would be scrapped this year in favor of a "Homage of the People," which is expected to see the public swearing allegiance to the monarch.

The campaign group has announced plans to hold a massive demonstration at London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday to mount pressure on the royalty and their loyalists.

The protesters are set to hit the streets in yellow T-shirts and placards that would read #NotMyKing; a protest slur coined by the group.

Earlier in January, the group announced another plan for a peaceful demonstration at Parliament Square, which is overlooked by Westminster Abbey where Charles III is to be crowned.

"The coronation is a celebration of hereditary power and privilege, [and] it has no place in a modern society," Smith said at that time.

He also blasted the event's astronomical price tag, saying, "At a cost of tens of millions of pounds, this pointless piece of theater is a slap in the face for millions of people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis."

The expensive ceremony comes as the latest figures show the UK's inflation stands at over 10 percent; the highest in four decades.

The inflationary spiral is growing at a much faster pace than the average pay rise across the country, with food prices skyrocketing almost 20 percent. Increasing energy prices, along with soaring energy costs, have also largely contributed to the UK's cost-of-living crisis.

Many labor unions have launched industrial actions to press the government to enact salary hikes. The government, however, refuses to increase salaries, saying it would increase the inflation.

Experts, however, blame the existing crisis on Britain's leadership incompetence and turbulence that saw the country change several prime ministers over the past two years.