Scottish independence: Monarchy ‘rethink’ if No
Stephen Haseler, director of the Global Policy Institute in London, said the whole debate was a “chance to start again” and raised the issue of what would happen with the royal family in the future.
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Hide AdProfessor Haseler said: “If there’s a no vote, I think we’re going to have a serious rethink about the constitution of the UK. The Welsh First Minister wants a constitutional convention for the whole country.
“In that eventuality, obviously the question of the monarchy comes into it. If you have a rethink about our basic constitutional arrangements the question is sure, we would keep the Queen while she’s here, but what are we going to do afterwards?
“If you’re going to have a written constitution, what are we going to do about the heirs and successors issue?”
He added: “It’s a chance to start again. This whole debate is a chance to start again. The Queen and the monarchy are deeply involved in this.”
Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones has called for a constitutional convention after the referendum to look again at the way the nations of the UK are governed.
On Sunday, the Queen appeared to make her views on the referendum known when she said she hoped voters will “think very carefully about the future”.
She made the comment after attending a morning church service at Crathie Kirk near her Balmoral estate.
The Queen reportedly told a well-wisher in the crowd: “Well, I hope people will think very carefully about the future.”
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Hide AdAfter previous reports claimed the Queen was growing increasingly concerned about Scotland breaking away, Buckingham Palace issued a statement which read: “The sovereign’s constitutional impartiality is an established principle of our democracy and one which the Queen has demonstrated throughout her reign.
“As such the monarch is above politics and those in political office have a duty to ensure this remains the case.
“Any suggestion that the Queen would wish to influence the outcome of the current referendum campaign is categorically wrong. Her Majesty is simply of the view this is a matter for the people of Scotland.”
Ukip leader Nigel Farage has argued that the Queen should intervene, saying: “If the United Kingdom itself is under threat, then in many ways you could argue she has a responsibility to say something.”
During the Queen’s Jubilee year of 1977 there were growing calls for power to be devolved to Scotland and Wales.
The Queen made her views clear in a speech to both houses of Parliament when she said she understood the aspirations of Scotland and Wales: “But I cannot forget that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” she said.
“Perhaps this Jubilee is a time to remind ourselves of the benefits which union has conferred, at home and in our international dealings, on the inhabitants of all parts of this United Kingdom.”
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