Plotting the overthrow of the crowned heads of Europe isn’t what it used to be. So there was no cry of “off with their heads!” at the annual conference of the anti-monarchy campaign Republic in Bristol.

Modern-day republicans, including guest speakers from Denmark and Sweden, are a much less bloodthirsty bunch than their revolutionary forebears.

In fact the death of sitting monarchs is one of the biggest and most delicate issues facing republicans. Graham Smith, Republic’s chief executive, was challenged at the conference to state how he would react when the Queen dies. He answered in the kind of diplomatic language heard in boardrooms rather than on the barricades.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Graham Smith at the conference. Photograph: Matthew Weaver/Guardian

“It’s not a campaigning opportunity,” Smith warned the 80 or so delegates who had given up a sunny Saturday to attend the meeting on the top floor of a former bank in Stokes Croft, Bristol. “Monarchists don’t like hearing this but the Queen is going to die. We need to be prepared. We’re going to have some more discussions at our next board meeting,” he said.



Smith is anxious that Republic might be portrayed as callous when the Queen dies, so he regards the occasion as a potential threat to the movement. “It is something we have to get through,” he told the conference. “That first week or so is very high risk for us in case anyone does or says anything that is then taken out of context or deemed offensive by the Daily Mail.”

Speaking to the Guardian after the conference, Smith added: “When you have a hereditary monarchy, death is part of the process. We can’t not speak about it. It’s about how and when we do that. We don’t want to use it as a campaign issue – it is someone’s death. But the succession is obviously a big issue that we need to think about. It has to be about what happens next and why we will have King Charles without any discussion.”

Swedish republicans are similarly nervous about what will happen when 69-year-old King Carl XVI Gustaf dies. Jenny Grenander from Republikanska Föreningen, Sweden’s anti-monarchy campaign, which boasts an all-time high of almost 11,000 members, is looking to Britain for guidance. “The most likely thing is that your queen will die before our king,” she told the conference.

Grenader added: “That’s a real possibility for Sweden to learn and see the dos and don’ts to pick up from the UK. We should probably keep a low profile when the king dies.

“But when the media turns up we should have something to say, and we could learn a lot from Britain. I would tell the media we say: ‘We should let them grieve in private. But it’s wrong for the princess to be forced to be head of state on the same day her father dies.’ This ‘king is dead, long live the queen’ thing is just ridiculous.”



At least one of the delegates, the former Labour MEP Ian White, reckoned the death of the monarch was a potential opportunity for republicans. He pointed out the public would be revolted by the likely tone and the quantity of media mourning. “I think Republic, and indeed all republicans, should be prepared for a very intense period, because the saturation coverage is going to be like nothing we’ve seen so far,” he told delegates.

Afterwards he added: “Graham is worried that we are not seen to be crowing over the death of a an old granny. But she’s not my granny. And her death will bring about the arrival of another person who claims to be head of state, and that’s bizarre.”

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With the approval rating for the monarchy running at 66%, Smith knows republicans need to tread carefully. But he insists an anti-monarchy momentum is building. Republic’s membership has risen 20% in the past six months, taking it to just short of 5,000. “The watchword for the conference is optimism,” he said.

With an annual budget of around only £120,000, Smith admits he is up against a formidable opponent. “We don’t have the multimillion-pound budget to have the massive PR operation that the monarchy has. They have got the upper hand at the moment,” he conceded.

But Smith insists attitudes can change, and he draws inspiration from the success of the gay rights movement and the Scottish nationalists. “Think about Scotland – the marginal issue of independence suddenly took hold. That’s where we have to go. On gay rights there have been huge changes in the last 25 years. Gay marriage shows that enormous change can happen. Part of our job is to get our people to believe it can be done.”

