Avowed republican Dennis Skinner has never sung God Save the Queen or King in his 86 years.

And he will treat 19 May as just another working day in his Derbyshire constituency - but the Beast of Bolsover admits Meghan Markle is a “bit of a catch” for the royals.

The veteran Labour MP champions democracy on the Daily Mirror's new Not The Royal Wedding podcast and criticises a hereditary institution billing taxpayers for the £369-million cost of renovating its main London home, Buckingham Palace.

Irrepressible Skinner describes how he refused a royal command to meet Prince Charles, informing the flunkey passing on the message the future King wanted a chat: “Why, has he got fed up with talking to the plants?”

The Bolsover MP says he'd like 775-room Buckingham Palace used to house more than one family, including Grenfell Tower survivors, but fears it would be sold to stop that happening if the royals were ever moved out.

And he'd build a hospital instead of the new Britannia II royal yacht a group of Tory MPs are keen to launch.

He thinks Meghan Markle's a good catch for the royals but in the future this American outsider could stick two fingers up at the royals. The dysfunctional family striving to be both regal and common will ultimately trip itself up. “They want their cake and eat it,” says the Beast.