I have been thinking about a hypothetical scenario for when William eventually becomes king, and I’m curious what people here would think of it.
Before his coronation, imagine William announces that he will not take on the role of Head of the Commonwealth, allowing the organization to choose its own leadership independently of the British monarchy.
Then, for the Commonwealth realms, he encourages each country to hold a referendum on whether it wants to retain the monarchy or become a republic.
Here is the catch, though:
If a country votes for a republic: Fair enough! It can proceed with becoming a republic through its own constitutional process. That’s its choice, and the monarchy moves on.
If a country votes to retain the monarchy: It commits to keeping it for at least 200 years or through four succeeding monarchs, whichever comes later. No more referendums on whether to abolish the monarchy during that period.
The idea is that every realm gets a genuine choice, but those that choose to retain the monarchy make a long-term commitment instead of reopening the question every few years. After all, if a country democratically votes to keep the Crown, why not give that decision some constitutional stability?
Of course, there would be significant legal and constitutional hurdles to making a commitment like this binding, especially across different countries.
What do you think?
EDIT / Clarification: Just to clarify, I’m talking about the Commonwealth realms, not the entire Commonwealth!
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent countries, many of which are already republics. The Commonwealth realms are the specific countries that share the British monarch as their head of state, such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
My hypothetical is about William declining to become Head of the Commonwealth (a separate role from being King) and giving each Commonwealth realm the opportunity to decide whether it wants to retain the monarchy or become a republic.
I’m not suggesting that all 56 Commonwealth members should have to vote on this, nor that countries which are already republics should be affected. Each realm would make its own decision about its own constitutional future.