By GB News (Politics) | Created at 2026-10-14 09:05:34 | Updated at 2026-10-14 13:57:45
5 hours ago
Republican campaigners are demanding that Senedd Members stage a walkout during King Charles III's address at the ceremonial opening of the Seventh Senedd tomorrow and instead stand alongside demonstrators gathered outside the building.
The protest, organised by the group Real Democracy Now, is set to begin at 11am at the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff Bay on Thursday, October 15.
Activists plan to use the occasion to press their case for abolishing the monarchy, which they regard as fundamentally incompatible with democratic governance.
The group has urged elected members to publicly condemn the Welsh Government's decision to extend an invitation to the King for the ceremony.
Adam Johannes, a leading figure in Real Democracy Now, is spearheading the campaign, calling on politicians to refuse to attend the royal address and instead declare their support for a republic.
Thursday's event will be a historic first for Charles, who has previously attended every official Senedd opening but has never presided over the ceremony as Head of State.
His late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, performed the duty at each post-election session from the inaugural National Assembly for Wales in 1999 until she died in 2022.
The ceremony carries additional significance as it marks the first opening since the Senedd was enlarged to 96 members, a landmark moment in the evolution of Welsh democratic institutions.
Senedd Members, invited guests and selected performers will attend the formal proceedings, which will officially inaugurate the new parliamentary term.
Mr Johannes described the spectacle of a hereditary monarch inaugurating an elected Parliament as absurd, telling Nation.Cymru: "An unelected king opening an elected Senedd. What an insult. You couldn't make it up, could you?"
He argued that voters choose their representatives only to see them forced to defer to someone whose sole credential is inherited wealth and lineage: "What on earth is democratic about that?"
The campaigner characterised the Crown as a vestige of feudalism: "The monarchy is nothing more than a brand symbol for inequality. It encourages us to accept as normal the idea that people can exercise power without being elected or held to account."
He reserved particular scorn for left-leaning politicians in the Senedd: "What's particularly pathetic is watching politicians fall over themselves to bow to the Crown and prove how respectable they are. Not one Senedd Member has had the courage to publicly oppose the King's visit."
Ann Davies, a fellow member of Real Democracy Now, said she intended to join the demonstration during her lunch hour, attending as both a trade unionist and a worker grappling with the cost-of-living crisis.
She drew a sharp contrast between the King's vast personal fortune and the daily hardships endured by ordinary Welsh families: "When Wales suffers some of the highest levels of poverty and low pay in the UK, what an insult it is to working class people to see an unelected billionaire king, with his castles and vast estates, elevated above the rest of us while we struggle to pay the bills, keep a roof over our heads and put food on the table."
Ms Davies added that the King should redistribute his inherited fortune if he possessed any sense of moral responsibility: "If the King had even an ounce of decency, he'd give away all his unearned inherited wealth to help hard-working families like mine pay our gas and electricity bills this winter."
The group's concerns extend well beyond the Royal Family itself. Real Democracy Now contends that banks, major corporations, the media, the civil service, intelligence agencies, police, military and the House of Lords all exercise significant power without sufficient democratic accountability.
Mr Johannes has form when it comes to organising republican demonstrations. He previously helped stage a large protest against King Charles's Coronation in Cardiff, during which hundreds of marchers paraded through the city with chants of "Down with the Crown" and "Not My King."
Despite the planned disruption outside, the ceremony itself will feature a programme of cultural performances by musicians, dancers and artists from across Wales. Among those due to perform are Mared Emry Pugh-Evans, the Official Harpist to His Majesty The King, and the Wales YFC Choir.
Broad opinion surveys across Wales routinely demonstrate that roughly 55 to 60 per cent of the public favour retaining the monarchy, compared to approximately 20 to 25 per cent who support an elected head of state.
GB News has contacted the Senedd, the Welsh Youth Parliament and the Wales Federation of Young Farmers' Clubs choir for comment.
