On Saturday 6th May 2023 King Charles 3rd was crowned at Westminster Abbey along with the Queen Consort by the Archbishop of Canterberry Justin Welby in a 'once in a generation' ceremony. It was dubbed as the crowning moment of Britishness (excuse the pun) with traditions dating back hundreds of years when we could come together as a nation under the red, white and blue of the Union Jack chanting "God Save the King".

On the morning of the 6th of May 2023, we set the alarm for 7 am, put on our smelly hiking clothes and set off along the Great Glen Way, denying Eve the chance to watch the coronation live on TV.

Why did we do that???

Firstly, if we watched the coronation live on TV, we would have been committing a criminal offence...!

We do not own a TV licence. In the UK watching any live broadcast requires a TV licence payable to the BBC regardless of whether the broadcast is on the BBC or not!

Now to let you into a little secret... (no, it's not that we're atheists)

We do not support having a monarchy! We believe that to be a truly democratic nation our head of state should be democratically elected by all of us, and not the birthright of one family.

Democracy should be enough but...

I can't help to feel that the money we spent as a nation on the coronation, would have been better spent on anything... child poverty, food banks, foreign aid... anything!

I understand the argument that 'the royal family bring in tourists' and therefore money for the economy, but the evidence just doesn't support the royal family as a net contributor.

That's before we start talking about the Sovereign Grant and the cost of security... How about food banks? hospitals? foreign aid?

Royal finances: Where does the Queen get her money?
The Royal Family has opened its books to show how the Queen spent her money last year.
BBC NewsTom EdgingtonBBC News

Eve is fully aware of our views but also knows that there are other people with different perspectives and ideas. We encourage her to form her own independent opinions based on research and evidence.

From the perspective of Eve's home education, we have sat with her and watched the highlights of the coronation trying to explain what was happening and how this is a once-in-a-generation event of great importance to us as British subjects!

I know that many people will think that I am wrong and will have a different viewpoint. We fully respect your thoughts and feelings.

Please let me know what you think in the comments below.

Regardless, I hope you all had a great coronation day and enjoyed the bank holiday.

Until next time.

Ian