Stephen Price
Anti-monarchy groups are urging Senedd Members to walk out during King Charles III’s speech at the ceremonial opening of the Seventh Senedd and join protesters outside, in a challenge to hereditary privilege.
The demonstration will take place outside the Welsh Parliament from 11am onwards on Thursday, October 15, with campaigners calling for a republic.
The Ceremonial Opening will officially mark the beginning of the new Senedd term.
Expected to arrive in Cardiff Bay around lunchtime, both King Charles III and Queen Camilla will attend the ceremonial opening.
Queen Elizabeth II officially opened every post-election session from the first National Assembly for Wales in 1999 until her death in 2022.
King Charles III has also attended every official opening of the Senedd, but this week will mark his first time at the ceremony as Head of State.
Members of the Senedd will be in attendance along with invited guests and those chosen to perform at the event.
It is the first Ceremonial Opening since the expansion of the Senedd to 96 members, making it a significant milestone in the history of Welsh politics.
Adam Johannes, of Real Democracy Now, previously helped organise a major protest against Charles’s coronation in Cardiff, where hundreds marched through the city chanting “Down with the Crown – Not My King”.
He is now calling on Senedd Members to condemn the Welsh Government’s decision to invite the King to the ceremony.
“An unelected king opening an elected Senedd. What an insult. You couldn’t make it up, could you?” he said.
“We go out, vote and elect our representatives, but before they can get on with the job, we’re expected to roll out the red carpet for a man whose only qualification is having the right parents and being filthy rich. What on earth is democratic about that?”
“If the Senedd is genuinely the people’s parliament, why does it need an unelected monarch to open it? We should be citizens, not subjects. Our democracy doesn’t need a royal seal of approval.”
Mr Johannes said the monarchy was a relic of a past age, claiming that generations of ordinary people had fought against them to win their democratic rights:
“Let’s remember where the monarchy comes from. It belongs to an old social order in which most of us were serfs, denied the vote and expected to know our place.”
“Over centuries, the common people rose up in wave after wave of rebellion against those who believed they were born to rule, fighting to get King Charles’s ancestors off our backs. Yet somehow, these dinosaurs managed to cling on to a role.”
“The monarchy is nothing more than a brand symbol for inequality. It encourages us to accept as normal the idea that people can exercise power without being elected or held to account,” he added.
Real Democracy Now argue that the problem goes far beyond the Royal Family. Banks, big business, the media, the civil service, the secret services, the police, the armed forces, the House of Lords and other institutions all wield enormous power, yet operate without what they consider adequate democratic oversight.
Ann Davies, another member of the group, said she would join the protest during her lunch break as a trade unionist and worker facing the cost of living crisis.
“When Wales suffers some of the highest levels of poverty and low pay in the UK, what an insult it is to working class people to see an unelected billionaire king, with his castles and vast estates, elevated above the rest of us while we struggle to pay the bills, keep a roof over our heads and put food on the table,” she said.
“For millions of working people, life is a constant struggle to make ends meet. If the King had even an ounce of decency, he’d give away all his unearned inherited wealth to help hard-working families like mine pay our gas and electricity bills this winter.”
Mr Johannes also criticised Senedd Members from parties on the left for what he described as their deference to the Crown: “What’s particularly pathetic is watching politicians fall over themselves to bow to the Crown and prove how respectable they are. Not one Senedd Member has had the courage to publicly oppose the King’s visit. If they’re serious about democracy, they should stop treating the monarchy as above criticism, grow a backbone, boycott Charles’s visit and have the guts to stand up for a republic on Thursday.”
Cultural performances from musicians, dancers, and artists from across Wales will also feature in the day, including performances from Mared Emry Pugh-Evans, Official Harpist to His Majesty The King, and the Wales YFC Choir.
The opening ceremony can be watched live on October 15, 2026 from 11am.
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