As the historic Coronation of King Charles III approaches, left-wing commentator Ash Sarkar has branded the Royal Family “a cartel of some very weird people”. Appearing on Newsnight, Ms Sarkar said: “When it comes to this generation in particular, young people are interested in the values of fairness and in the values of representation, whatever way you slice it, the monarchy is neither a fair nor representative institution.”
The Corbyn-supporting journalist said that attempts by the royals to encourage coverage of their engagements has undermined the public image of the institution.
“There have been attempts by the Royal Family to strip themselves of some of the mystery, invite the media in and show the public what they really do.”
She argued that allowing greater scrutiny of their lives has exposed the personal shortcomings of several royals.
“And what they’ve revealed themselves to be is a cartel of some very weird people.
“And I think that the more that social media, 24-hour news, tabloid press intrusion, gets us to see who they are as individuals, which is people who have been made, in many cases deeply unhappy by the institution that they were born into, the less people are inclined to support the monarchy, either as a political or national institution.”
She added that Brits that saw the royals appearing “unhappy” made them less “into” the institution.
In response, presenter Mark Urban asked her to flesh out what she meant: “I mean, it’s fascinating that you say that because I suppose you could say a traditional role is to offer a kind of escapist dream and otherness. But you’re saying that dream is tarnished by some of the stories that the Palace wouldn’t like getting out?”
The 31-year-old replied: “I think that there’s always been a double edged sword to the glamour and to the celebrity.
“If you think about the person who really pioneered celebrity for the royal family, Princess Diana, that goes hand in hand with tragedy.
“And I think you can see the same with the treatment of Meghan Markel, she came into the royal family as a ready-made celebrity, someone who was comfortable and familiar with what it meant to be under public scrutiny.
Defending the former Suits actress, she said: “She ended up being pushed to the point where she went went to the United States and for the Royal Family, to not be able to keep the first woman of colour inside the tent really does fly in the face of what a lot of Generation Z and millennials value which is diversity, inclusion, and a degree of social equality.”
