King Charles has found himself at the centre of a fresh constitutional debate after an SNP MSP lodged a motion to scrap the oath of allegiance at Holyrood.
Kevin Stewart, who represents Aberdeen Central, argues that MSPs should pledge loyalty to the people of Scotland rather than “an unelected monarch.”
The move follows Grenada’s landmark decision to amend its constitution and drop its oath to the British Crown.
In what the Grenadian government hailed as a “commendable display of national unity,” both government and opposition joined forces to replace the wording “His Majesty King Charles the Third, His Heirs and Successors” with a simple pledge of allegiance to Grenada itself.
Citing Grenada’s recent decision to remove the monarch from its parliamentary oath in favour of allegiance to its citizens, Stewart argued that Scotland should follow suit.
“Grenada has decided to drop the oath of allegiance to the king, isn’t it time that Scotland followed their lead?” he wrote on social media.
The full text of Stewart’s motion praises Grenada’s move and reaffirms his belief that “the people of Scotland are sovereign” and that MSPs should no longer be required to swear loyalty to “an unelected monarch.”
The proposal has already gained backing from SNP colleagues Karen Adam, Colin Beattie, James Dornan and Bill Kidd, along with Scottish Labour’s Mercedes Villalba.
Holyrood members are currently required to declare “true allegiance” to the monarch, but some have long pushed back.
After the 2021 election, Nicola Sturgeon prefaced her oath with the reminder that the SNP’s loyalty lies with the people of Scotland, in keeping with the nation’s constitutional tradition.
The Scottish Greens echoed that sentiment, with co-leader Patrick Harvie stressing, “Our allegiance lies with the people of Scotland, who elected this parliament and who are sovereign, and we look forward to the day when they can choose their own elected head of state.”