There has been much wavering over guest lists, protests and seating plans, but one thing is sure – the Proclaimers’ song I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) will not be on the official playlist for the celebration of the coronation of King Charles
The song has been removed from the playlist after complaints were received about the band’s republican views.
The Scottish brothers Craig and Charlie Reid are self-declared republicans who have been vocal about their views at various points throughout their career.
Last September, Charlie Reid stated his support for Symon Hill, an author and tutor who was initially charged with using threatening or abusive words, or disorderly behaviour during a proclamation ceremony for King Charles in Oxford.
Hill shouted “Who elected him?” before being taken into a police van. His case was later dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.
Speaking to the National, Reid said: “I thought that guy spoke for me, and he speaks for loads of other people. Not just in Scotland, but right around the UK.”
On the queen’s death, Reid said: “Loads of people are like me, they had personal respect for the woman but they do not support the monarchy.
“Her son, similarly unelected, has taken over and the media has encouraged no debate on that. They’re unquestioning. The way they report that everyone in Britain feels the same way, they don’t. This is just simply untrue.”
Reid also said that in the event Scotland became independent, a referendum should be put to the Scottish people about whether the nation should keep the royal family. A poll last year found 45 per cent of people in Scotland wanted to keep the monarchy.
In a blog post from their website written in 2007, the Proclaimers described their song In Recognition, from the album Life with You, as being about their “overwhelming contempt for people on the left in this country who snipe against the royal family and then end up taking honours.
“For people who believe in the monarchy (we’re don’t, we’re republicans) then that’s fair enough, we don’t have a problem with that. But we feel total contempt for people who declare that they’re against the monarchy but then think it’s OK to take an honour in later life.”
The playlist, compiled by the department for culture, includes Slave to the Rhythm by Grace Jones, Starry Eyed by Ellie Goulding and Dance All Over Me by George Ezra.
A spokesperson for the department said: “The playlist has been created to celebrate British and Commonwealth artists ahead of the upcoming coronation.”
The coronation of Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort, will be held on May 6th, and Katy Perry, Take That and Lionel Richie are due to perform the following day at Windsor Castle.
Earlier this month, the Guardian newspaper revealed Charles’s wealth was estimated at £1.8 billion, with his luxury car fleet worth an estimated £6.3 million, while an investigation found the king and his late mother took more than £1 billion income from the duchies estates. - Guardian