It was always going to be the case surely that support for the monarchy would fall off a bit following the death of the Queen. She had a very special appeal built up over the decades and this was something that she could not pass on to her firstborn.

The cost and sheer extravagance of the Coronation at a time when the vast majority of the Kings subjects were having to tighten their belts was inevitably going to be difficult and it becomes increasingly difficult to support the number of members of the Royal family who are one the public payroll.

As the Ipsos chart shows there has been a movement towards a Republic but it is still at only 28%. You can see efforts to trim things and I wonder whether this could be an issue at the next election.

Mike Smithson

Looking at the Ipsos chart