Footage of a 19-year-old Liz Truss has emerged where she called for the monarchy to be abolished. Truss is the newly elected prime minister of the U.K. and this clip emerged just a couple days before the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Did Liz Truss say that she wants to abolish the monarchy?
The Independent published the clip where Truss says, “But only one family can provide the head of state. We, liberal democrats, believe in opportunity for all. ... We do not believe that people should be born to rule.” According to Yahoo News, Truss said, “Abolish them, we’ve had enough.”
What is Liz Truss’ position now on the monarchy?
Just two years after calling for the abolition of the monarchy, Truss joined the Conservative Party. Even though Truss expressed that she would want to abolish the monarchy when she was young, it seems like those days are gone.
About her previous comments, Truss said, “Well, I was wrong to say what I did at the time. I began to understand more about why Britain is successful, and part of our success is the constitutional monarchy that supports a free democracy.”
Truss concluded her remarks about the queen’s death with “God save the king.”
Will the monarchy end with Queen Elizabeth?
According to Insider, it would take an act of Parliament signed by the Sovereign to end the monarchy, and at this point there isn’t enough support for that to happen.
An opinion piece published by MSNBC speculated that the end is soon. “Over the centuries since, that shift has only grown more prominent, leaving the monarchy more a point of nostalgic pride than actual necessity,” the piece reads.
When Rutgers interviewed historian Alastair Bellany about this question he said, “We might also see a political reckoning within Britain itself. The modern monarchy is very much a national symbol, albeit one that has not always (or even often) accurately reflected the more complicated realities of the nation.”
Graham Smith, British advocate for removing the monarchy, said, “Serious debate about getting rid of the royals will come only under a monarch less astute, less admired and more gaffe-prone than Elizabeth on the throne.”