Republic protesters plan mass chaos for King Charles III’s coronation

A massive protest will be held in London on the day King Charles III will be crowned. See what‘s planned and what activists are demanding of the monarchy.

Graham Smith is leading an anti-monarchy protest on the day of King Charles III’s coronation.

Exclusive: An activist, who once called Australia home, will spearhead one of the largest protests on the day of King Charles III’s Coronation.

Former Telstra worker Graham Smith is mobilising thousands of pro-republic supporters for the May 6 procession picket.

Their aim is to inflict mass chaos as King Charles travels in his gold state carriage along the route from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace — and confront him with their demands for an end to Britain’s constitutional monarchy and its associated costs.

“It’s the Monarchy we don’t like. We want an abolition of the monarchy in favour of a parliamentary republic,” Mr Smith, who lived in Melbourne for seven years until 2001, said.

“We’ve been campaigning for quite some time staging big campaigns around the wedding in 2011 (William and Kate), the Jubilee in 2012, and so on but Charles is an easier target than the Queen and the change from the Queen highlights the absurdity of it all.

“He (King Charles) hasn’t inherited the same deference, his failings and views are much more on public display and people are much less inclined to like him.”

CEO of the Republic protest movement, Graham Smith, who spent years living in Australia, plans mass disruption along the coronation procession route. Picture: Reuters

Mr Smith, who took over as chief executive of the political movement Republic in 2003, has devised a ‘carnival-style’ protest with music and party paraphernalia to deflect police attention from their planned aggressive antics at Trafalgar Square.

“There will be music and banners and it will look like they’re part of the King’s supporters but when he is near, Republic will jump into action, pull out their ‘Not My King’ placards and aim to stop the procession,” a source close to the 130,000-strong member group said.

“Some are planning to bring eggs, they’ll all be along the procession at designated points.

“They tell members not to hurl eggs but people do.“Stopping the carriage is the prime aim, but they’ll also be loudly heckling the King and challenging him to answer their questions.”

King Charles faces anti monarchy protesters on the day of his coronation n May 6. Picture: AFP

Mr Smith said: “When the coronation procession comes along, we will be booing him, and waving placards, we plan to be as loud and unmissable as possible.”

Republic is trying to draft in high-profile actors Colin Firth and Daniel Radcliffe, who have publicly admitted their dislike for the unelected officials and class divide.

Support for the lobby group has gathered momentum since the Queen’s death in September.

Income from supporters has nearly tripled in the past two years — from £106,000 ($A194,820) in 2020 to a staggering £286,000 ($A525,640) in 2022.

Graham Smith rallies anti-monarchy protesters outside Westminster Abbey in London in March. Pictures: Reuters

A YouGov poll last September found 67 per cent of people in the UK wanted the monarchy to continue, while 20 per cent said no.

Though a decade earlier 75 per cent of people were in support.

Mr Smith said dissidence for the new monarch had grown at a time of growing cost of living pressures and members objected to royals crying poor over lost revenue from the family’s two duchies.

“The succession has coincided with growing resentment and anger about the rising cost of living and seeing him in an inherent position whereby he avoids paying tax doesn’t bode well.

“The monarchy is immoral, outdated and bad for democracy. Charles is just a man in a suit using up tax payers’ money.

“When I lived in Australia, no one spoke about, or cared for, the royals as much as they do in England. We’ve got a lot planned for coronation day.”

Protesters say they have “a lot” planned for King Charles and the Queen, when they are anointed on at Westminster Abbey on May 6. Picture: AFP

Republic is the same anti-monarchists group which heckled the sovereign in March when he attended the Commonwealth Day service.

Members turned out in droves to a walkabout in Milton Keynes waving “Not My King” yellow banners. One protester shouted “why are you wasting money on a coronation Charles?” The King was also heckled on a visit to Colchester Castle in February.

“We’ve organised quite a few of the protests so far, and will be organising a hell of a lot more up until and beyond the Coronation – they will become a feature of royal engagements,” said Mr Smith, whose book Abolish The Monarchy is published in May.

Originally published as Republic protesters plan mass chaos for King Charles III’s coronation