The Coronation of Charles III
On Saturday May 6, the coronation of Charles III will take place at Westminster Abbey in London, England. He will be crowned “King of the United Kingdom” — which refers to England, Scotland, Wales and the north of Ireland — and of the “Commonwealth Realms” — which includes Canada. The slogans Not My King!, Abolish the Monarchy! Not in My Name! are ringing out loud and clear. A recent poll from the Angus Reid Institute in Canada provides the following results:
- Most respondents (60 per cent) oppose even recognizing Charles as King. Just 28 per cent say they have a favourable view of Charles, while nearly half (48 per cent) do not. Two-thirds (66 per cent) of respondents said they are against even recognizing Camilla as Queen of Canada. Less than nine per cent said they are looking forward to the spectacle of the coronation.
- More than half of respondents (52 per cent) said they don’t want Canada to continue as a constitutional monarchy and 88 per cent of them said they would be fine with opening the Constitution to break the ties. In Quebec, 66 per cent of respondents are against Canada remaining a constitutional monarchy.
“Canadians are fairly unequivocal around their views of whether the monarchy represents a modern institution, and indeed an institution that they wish to see sit at the top of Canadian law, politics, constitution for generations to come,” Shachi Kurl, President of the Angus Reid Institute, told CBC News.
“And the answer to that is no.”
(The poll results are based on a randomized sample of 2,013 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum online from April 10-12.)