Our Monarchy I am a Republican. There. I have said it. So, no one should be surprised that I have no patience for the pantomime showcasing the monarchy. Especially, Charles, the Third and Queen Camilla. Where is the halo? I had a sneaky respect for Queen Elizabeth, the second. She was only a few years older than me, and I had watched her as she grew from a young teen-princess into a dignified monarch. When I was fifteen years old, I came by a glossy photobook about the two royal princesses. I spent hours looking at the pretty girls, Elizabeth and Margaret. I remember horses and dogs figured hugely on the pages. And George the VIth had been the King to whom we paid homage every morning in school assembly. Until the police bundled my father off to jail in 1943 because he was a freedom-fighter and wanted the British to just get up and leave India. He was quite vocal about that. After that I refused to stand up when ‘God Save the King’ was sung in school. The nuns punished me in various inventive ways, and I insisted that George, the sixth, was no King of mine. And now – Charles. I rest my case. In India, we have a democratic constitution, with a pseudo royal family, the Nehrus. Jesus wept! In a country with an enormous population, surely, there must be many who would better fit the role of leader of the Congress Party. In what respect is Rahul Gandhi a suitable Prime Minister? How has he earned the accolade? Our country, the U K, is in a bad place at the moment, with many families finding it difficult to make ends meet. How is celebrating the advent of an inherited monarchy a priority? Question – Do we need a ridiculous coronation right now? Or more social housing, more teachers, more doctors--- Money channelled into the NHS because it is crumbling now? Or even a quiet, unobtrusive way of ditching the Tory Government? I live in hope.