Nicola Sturgeon has suggested the royal family be abolished, as it would ‘free Prince George’ from the burden of becoming King.
The former Scottish first minister made the comments in a new Channel 4 documentary, The Royals: Time To Go, which debates the monarchy’s future and argues whether the ‘firm’ has had its day.
While Sturgeon — who has met the royals on multiple occasions — said she has ‘huge sympathy’ for members of the family, she also voiced her abolition opinions.
‘I would say one of the arguments for getting rid of the monarchy is for the sake of members of the royal family, like Prince George, for example,’ she said to the documentary presenter, John Humphrys.
Sturgeon continued, stating that the ‘kid doesn’t know any different.’
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‘He has a certain life ahead of him that he has no choice over. Is that really fair?’ she added.
Ultimately, the ex-SNP leader said that she believes ‘one of the arguments for getting rid of the monarchy’ is to ‘free the future members of the royal family from carrying that burden.’
Sturgeon isn’t the only one who believes abolishing the monarchy could be a good thing.
Last year, The National, Scotland’s only pro-independence newspaper, published a poll that revealed 53% of Scots backed removing the monarch as Scotland’s head of state and becoming a republic instead.
Out of that 53%, 36% said the royal family should be removed ASAP, 12% reasoned within the next 10 years, while 5% opted for the monarchy’s removal in more than a decade.
On the other side of the coin, 47% of respondents said they believed Scotland should never remove the monarchy.
Sturgeon’s points about Prince George not being able to decide his future have already somewhat played out within the monarchy.
In January 2020, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle stepped down as senior royals and moved to the US to live a life away from the monarchy.
Since then, Harry — who has recently moved back to the UK with his family — has been very vocal about his experiences within the royal family.
In his and Meghan’s 2021 bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, he opened up about feeling ‘trapped.’
‘I was trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are,’ he said at the time, adding: ‘My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that.’
Harry reasoned that he would never have left the royal family without Meghan, explaining that he ‘didn’t see a way out.’
He said: ‘I wouldn’t have been able to, because I myself was trapped as well… I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped.’