King Charles's core fan base 'are not going to be here forever'

King Charles is under threat of losing support for the monarchy if he doesn't adapt to the times, a royal commentator has warned.

During a panel discussion about the Royal Family, hosted by Yahoo News UK's royal executive editor Omid Scobie, royal commentator Afua Hagan said that it was important for Charles to move with the times and issue an apology for the Royal Family's historic ties to the slave trade - even if it wouldn't be popular with his traditional supporters.

"It's the younger people and it's the younger fan base who are probably the ones that do want to see more of a conversation about this, that are going to be around for a longer period of time.
"It's horrible to say that but it's true and so King Charles would really do well to take real steps towards addressing the Royal Family's involvement with enslaving Africans".
Joining Omid were author and co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party, Catherine Mayer; King Charles’ biographer and royal editor at The Evening Standard Robert Jobson; and journalist and broadcaster Afua Hagan.

Watch the full clip above

Video transcript

AFUA HAGAN: He has to modernize. And modernizing the Royal Family means keeping up with the times and keeping up with the pulse. And, yes, there is a certain generation who will say, look-- like you said in your intro-- that this is leftist, wokeist nonsense and that slavery is done and dusted. It doesn't affect us today.

But that's another reason why we need to have more accurate history taught in our schools, because the effects of enslaving people has real-time effects on the outcomes of Black and Brown people in this country today because of the institutionalized racism that we see in health service, that we see in the police service, and how we have lower outcomes for Black and Brown people, whether that is how much income they will earn, what type of housing they are in, what health outcomes they will have.

So we need to realize that it's not just something that's happened, that can be swept under the carpet and it doesn't matter today. It does matter today, and it's still happening. And yes, perhaps King Charles does lose the support of some of his fan base. But without sounding too crass and without sounding too cold, that fan base are not going to be here forever.

And it's the younger people and the younger fan base who are probably the ones that do want to see more of a conversation about this that are going to be around for a longer period of time. It's horrible to say that, but it is true. And so King Charles III would really do well to take real steps towards addressing the Royal Family's involvement with enslaving Africans, but also the effects that it has today, and what that can mean for an apology and reparations.