UK: Historian says monarchy could be on its way out by 2030

(Telegraph.co.uk) - The British monarchy could be on its last legs by 2030, a historian has suggested.

As the Queen prepares to mark her 90th birthday, Dr Anna Whitelock, a reader in early modern history at Royal Holloway, University of London, and director of The London Centre for Public History, said support for the monarchy was linked to the Queen, not the institution itself.

Important questions about the relevance of the monarchy in modern society have been constrained out of respect for Elizabeth II's long reign, she said.

The author told the Press Association: "All of those questions about 'What the hell do we want this kind of unelected family (for)? What does that represent in Britain today?', all these profound questions have been held in check because of the Queen."

Dr Whitelock suggested that within two decades, the British monarchy could be challenged in a way that it never has been before when the Queen is likely to be no longer on the throne.

"I think there'll be a discussion and a debate in a way that there hasn't before.

"As the older generation who are generally more wedded to the monarchy die out, the question of the future of the monarchy will become even more pressing, and then potentially more critical voices will come to the fore," she said.

"I would say by 2030 there will be definite louder clamours for the eradication of the monarchy. I can't say that there won't be a monarchy. I would definitely say that the monarchy - its purpose, what it's about, will be questioned and challenged in a way that it hasn't been before.

"I don't think it's out of the question that the monarchy would be potentially be on its last legs."

Support for the monarchy during the last quarter of a century of the Queen's reign peaked during the Diamond Jubilee year of 2012 with 80 per cent being in favour of Britain remaining a monarchy.