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“The Scottish Green Party believes that a head of state should be elected by, and accountable to, the people,” the party said in a statement Wednesday. “We respect others hold different beliefs and have no wish to deprive them of their celebration. Our MSPs decided to absent themselves from today’s short debate and vote on the Royal celebration and instead spend their time serving their constituents.”
The move drew ire from Tory members of the Scottish Parliament. Annie Wells called it a “very crass stunt.” Sharon Dowey, who represents South Scotland, tweeted: “Disappointing to see the Greens leave the Chamber for the debate in honour of HM the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. She’s a remarkable woman regardless of how you feel about the monarchy.”
The walkout was a rare instance of political dissent in Britain over the jubilee commemorations, which have seen an outpouring of support for the monarch and extensive, and largely laudatory, media coverage. Even in Scotland, which for years has flirted with breaking away from Britain, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon led celebrations of the queen this week in Parliament.
“The occasion of the Platinum Jubilee is not just about an institution. It is, above all, about the life and service of an extraordinary woman,” Sturgeon said, according to a news release. “We should all pay tribute to that. So it is absolutely right that we celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. Let us congratulate her warmly on a reign of unprecedented length, and let us acknowledge with deep gratitude and respect, her dedication to duty.”
Jubilee beacons were set to be lighted across Scotland on Thursday, with a national service to be held at Glasgow Cathedral on Sunday to give thanks to the monarch. The Scottish government is also presenting the queen with a limited-edition Johnnie Walker whisky and a tartan throw, and plans to plant 70 trees in Holyrood Park — one for each of the queen’s years on the throne.
But for the Greens and other republicans in the United Kingdom, who oppose the continued role of the monarch as head of state, and of the Commonwealth of Nations, the occasion was another reminder that they have an unelected queen who gained the position by birthright.
Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy organization Republic, praised the Greens’ protest as Britain grapples with record inflation.
“There’s a lot of people that are struggling to put food on the table and politicians are trying to resolve these problems,” he told The Washington Post. “The Greens, along with other politicians in the Scottish Parliament, were asked to spend time at work praising the queen, and I think they felt this was too much.”
He added: “The coverage of the jubilee is hugely disproportionate to the interest in the jubilee. People who want to oppose the monarchy need to do what they can to get heard at the moment.”
Ahead of the holiday weekend, Smith’s group, which advocates for an elected head of state, put up billboard advertising around the country reading, “Make Elizabeth the Last. #AbolishTheMonarchy.” Many Britons associate the monarchy strongly with the queen, so republican activists see the jubilee as the “last hurrah,” Smith said.
One local authority called the ad campaign “disgraceful,” the BBC reported.
Opinion polls show a public divided on the longevity of the monarchy. A YouGov poll last month found that 33 percent of Britons ages 18 to 24 think that Britain should continue to have a monarchy, while 31 percent would opt for an elected head of state instead. 62 percent of respondents overall favored the monarchy, with the institution receiving the most backing from Conservatives and people older than 65.
Support for the monarchy appears to be lower in Scotland, where a poll by the British Future think tank last month found that 45 percent of respondents wanted to keep it. The Scottish National Party has committed to retaining the queen as the head of state if Scotland were to gain independence, although individual members have called for a vote on the issue.
Among other longtime detractors: the Sex Pistols. The punk band released a new music video this week of their hit “God Save the Queen,” which the BBC banned from the airwaves shortly after its original release in 1977 for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
The song appears to liken the monarchy to a “fascist regime” and suggest that it has no future in Britain — although, decades after it was written, former band members said they didn’t mind the jubilee celebrations, the Associated Press reported.
Smith hopes that all the pageantry around the jubilee will galvanize support for the republican cause among those who see the celebrations and the wall-to-wall media coverage in Britain as another sign of the institution’s excesses.
His organization plans to hold an anti-monarchy conference over the weekend that will draw republican activists from the world’s remaining monarchies, including in Europe and Thailand.
“A monarchy-free world is something which we can look forward to,” Smith said.
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