Two weeks ago, royal expert Lady Colin Campbell launched a petition on change.org urging Prince Harry to voluntarily give up his royal titles. Up until yesterday, 25,000 people had signed the petition, and in one day that number has exponentiallyincreased to over 40,000.
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Her next object is 50,000 signatures and it looks like she’s going to hit her target in a matter of hours.
Why did she start the petition?
The royal expert started this campaign to ‘invite’ Harry to ask the Queen to remove his titles so that he can freely articulate his beliefs openly, without it being associated with the royal family. She wrote:
The purpose is to invite Prince Harry to voluntarily ask The Queen to put his royal style, titles and rank into abeyance, thereby freeing him from the diplomatic, political and constitutional constraints that are an inevitable part of royal rank…
As a purely private citizen, with no royal rank, style or title, he will be able to indulge his personal beliefs, as is the right of all private citizens, without the consequential possibility of damaging the institution of the Monarchy…
Doing the right thing
It is clear that many British citizens agree with Campbell’s argument, and she believes that she has done the right thing by starting this petition. She told TheDaily Star:
I started it (the petition) because I think it’s the right thing to do.
I have spoken to people, many people, who think it’s the right thing to do and it is the solution.
It is the best solution because it frees Harry to be able to indulge himself without consequence and without doing damage to the institution of the monarchy of the British nation, the British people and himself.
While the objective of 50,000 is quite achievable in a population of over 66 million people, the question is: how many signatures will it take to motivate the Prince to let go of his royal titles? And will that truly spare the royal family from the consequences of his words and actions?
