Anti-monarchists remind that not all adore the royal family

WINDSOR, ENGLAND— Howabout a lovely set of Meghan-and-Harry tea towels? Mmm, no thanks. Champagne celebration in front of the telly? Pass. Ajaunt to join the crowds outside Windsor Castle? Don’t think so.

It’s a lonely time to be an antimonarchist in the United Kingdom.

As Meghan Markle and Prince Harry tie the royal knot on Saturday, polls suggest some Britons — a minority, but a substantial one, hovering in the low double digits — would like to see the monarchy done away with altogether.

The House of Windsor remains an enduringly popular institution, weathering storms of scandal and the nearconstant perception of creeping irrelevance to survive as a national symbol — and for much of the outside world, an exemplar of British branding at its finest.

But the spectacle of a royal wedding, swooned over by so many, also serves to revive complaints that the sprawling family tree presided over by Queen Elizabeth II is rotten at its roots — a drain on public resources, the epitome of a stiflingly unequal class system, a bizarre deviation from democratic values that Britain has historically claimed to hold dear.

The anti-monarchy movement has followers both passive and passionate. Large numbers of Britons, especially the young, are greeting this weekend’s wedding hoopla with bored nonchalance, grumbling about wall-to-wall media coverage and complaining about the cost.

Security expenses are borne by the public, with the royal family picking up the rest of what has been reported to be a $43 million tab.

“It’s just not a big deal to me,” said Paul Winstanley, 23, who lives less than 10 miles from the wedding venue.

A considerably smaller subset of royal nonenthusiasts is not merely dismissive of the wedding hype, but stands actively in opposition to the notion that a pampered and tradition-encrusted hereditary dynasty should play such an outsized role in the public life of a supposedly modern, egalitarian society.

The country’s main monarchy-abolition movement, which is called Republic and wants royals to be replaced by a directly elected head of state, is planning a pan-European gathering Saturday in London, just as the world spotlight is on the wedding at Windsor Castle.

But Republic head Graham Smith said the timing is coincidental, as the conference date was announced before that of the royal nuptials.