THE CROWN FALLS AT THE WATERHOLE: Brand-New Crowd Backs Abolishing Britain's Monarchy

Quiet now. Keep very still. In the long grass of the politics plains, a herd has gathered around one of the oldest creatures on the savannah: the British crown, a thousand years old, still wearing its plumage. The traders circle slowly. Within a day of the market opening on Morfi, the herd has spoken. It wants to retire the old beast and elect a head of state instead.

This animal has been under pressure for a while. A YouGov poll from January 2026 found that nearly two thirds of the British public still want to keep the monarchy, according to the Wikipedia entry on republicanism in the United Kingdom. Over the longer run, though, support has been thinning. NatCen's 2023 British Social Attitudes data, reported by Euronews, showed the share calling the monarchy very important had dropped below three in ten. That is the lowest since records began in 1983.

Then came this season's storm. After the arrest of ex-prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 2026, former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told AFP that a republic was more important than ever and called the monarchy an anachronism, France 24 reports. At home, the campaign group Republic wants a parliamentary republic and argues that royal finances should be independently audited.

Here at the Morfi waterhole, the herd has broken from the national polls. "Abolish — become a republic" sits at 60% consensus and "Keep the monarchy" trails at 40%. So far 47 traders have come down to drink and put $117,041 behind their opinions. These numbers measure how strongly the crowd is convinced, not a headcount of the country. Still, it is a striking sight: a small and confident herd heading the opposite way from the wider British population.

Now for this ranger's own opinion, whispered from behind the binoculars. I have a soft spot for ancient species. But any creature that needs a public subsidy, a palace and freedom from an independent audit to survive is not really living in the wild any more. It is living in a very expensive zoo. A head of state that people can choose, and can also send home, seems to me a healthier ecosystem than one run on bloodlines. The Monarchy of the United Kingdom may still be beautiful to look at. Beauty is not the same as a mandate.

The market is only a few hours old, and young markets move as quickly as young gazelles. Watch whether the monarchists come back to the water's edge, and whether the next round of national polling backs up this early stampede. If you have an opinion on crowns and republics, join the market on Morfi and put your conviction where the herd can see it.