King Charles faces uncertain future after Republic head's shocking demand

Graham Smith, the leader of the anti-monarchy group Republic, has stirred up storm with his controversial demand of royal referendum.

The anti-monarchy chief called for 'vote on King Charles' amid debate on elected head of state.

Smith made comments as he sat down with GB News' Digital Royal Editor Svar Nanan-Sen and Royal Correspondent Cameron Walker to discuss whether or not the 75-year-old should step down in favour of an elected head of state.

In reaction to the demand, Svar referenced the outlet's recent poll where 81 per cent of members voted in favour of Charles remaining the UK's head of state. Meanwhile, 18 per cent of respondents voted no, while only one per cent said they did not know.

Smith reacted as saying: "Well, I don't think it's a surprise to anybody that the viewers of the network tend to be more conservative than the wider population."

"But what I would say to people who like Charles and those who want him as head of state is vote for him, because if you are saying, 'Look, I like Charles, I want him as head of state, but I don't want to vote in case he loses'.

"What's the difference between doing that and saying, 'Well, I like Sunak, I think he should stay Prime Minister and therefore we should cancel the General Election'.

"It's absolutely fine to like Charles if that's what you like. Personally, I wouldn't vote for him. I don't think he would stand the scrutiny because he doesn't like being criticised and challenged. But if you want him to be head of state, vote for him.

"A lot of the polling shows within the age group up to 50, support is dropping sharply. It's quite a large body of public opinion. The most generous polling puts them around 60 per cent. The Savanta polling we've done is around 54, 55 per cent.

"That is being held up over the 50 per cent mark by those who are over 65. And that's going to change because people are not changing their views so much now as they get older, as they used to in the past."

Cameron interjected by saying: "Well you say that, but there was an opinion poll from the year 2000 from the Independent Communications and Marketing Research Company, which found that 40 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds believe that Britain would be better off with an elected head of state rather than a member of the Royal Family.

"Those 18 to 24-year-olds that were surveyed in 2000 are now 42 to 48 roughly, and the average percentage of adults surveyed across that age category with the Savanta poll that you did was 36 per cent, and therefore it's gone down."

However, Smith claimed: "It's gone down marginally. But I think that age group, 36 per cent saying we should get rid of it is quite a significant climb up because obviously in 2000, the monarchy was going through a bit of a tough time.

"It was only just after the death of Diana, they hadn't yet brought out William and Harry and all the PR around them to try and rebuild that image.

"So I think there was just a very different mood in the country. But I think that across the breadth of the polling, clearly there was a significant change in the way people feel about it. And among people under the age of 25, it is a significant draw."