Daily Times

Schoolchildren chanting ‘He’s our King’ drowned out ‘Not Our King’ protesters in Liverpool as Charles and Camilla visited this afternoon. Anti-monarchy demonstrators earlier gathered outside the city’s Central Library as the King and Queen were expected to arrive to officially mark the library’s twinning with Ukraine’s first public library, the Regional Scientific Library in Odesa.

The royal couple met key partners involved in both a two-week cultural festival that will run alongside the ‘Eurovision’ contest and Eurolearn, a Eurovision-inspired education programme for primary and secondary pupils.

Pressure group Republic tweeted video footage showing crowds of their protesters chanting ‘Not My King’ with one leading the chants using a megaphone. But another video shows their chants were then drowned out by groups of schoolchildren shouting ‘He’s Our King!’

In a clip tweeted by Republic, a protester named only as George said: ‘We are here because we want to live in a democracy that is actually true to the word democracy.’ He said it was ‘outrageous’ that we ‘still have an unelected head of state in 2023.’

‘It is a signal that we have sheer inequality in this country and we need to make our voices known,’ he added.

‘The polls are showing more and more people are not supporting the monarchy – across all generations and we need to make that known. We need to change the public debate.’

George said the group were present to be ‘loud and proud’.

Republic, who said they were protesting today for ‘democracy and equality’ tweeted: ‘The signs are up, our protest is underway. 50 and counting!’

The protest today comes after anti-monarchy pressure group Republic were present outside York Minster on April 6 as King Charles III and Queen Camilla attended a Maundy Thursday service. Around 30 activists from the pressure group staged the latest protest against the Royal Family, holding aloft banners reading ‘Not My King’.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Republic have gained momentum by promoting the #NotMyKing.

The hashtag has become increasingly popular since King Charles ascended to the throne in September 2022, with some members of the public raising fresh questions about the necessity for a monarchy in the United Kingdom.

Republic previously held similar protests in London, as well as booing King Charles and Queen Camilla in Colchester, Essex in March 2023.

Republic is a pressure group calling for an end to the UK’s system of constitutional monarchy. Set up in 1983 as a group of republicans and officially founded as pressure group in 2006, Republic wants to replace a royal head of state with an elected figure.

It would bring the UK into line with countries such as Germany, which has both a political leader, currently Chancellor Olaf Scholz and an elected head of state, the President of Germany, currently Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

MailOnline earlier revealed the anti-monarchist plot to disrupt King Charles’s Coronation next month.

Republic, a group which has openly called for the abolition of the monarchy and to replace it with an elected head of state, is planning a demonstration along The Mall on May 6.

On their website, the protesters are calling on thousands to don yellow T-shirts and wave placards reading ‘Not My King’ at a gathering in Trafalgar Square from 6am, before moving to the procession route between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey later that morning.