TO swear an oath of allegiance is such a tribal action, involving knee-bending and hand-kissing, or did I watch too many swashbuckling black-and-white films as a kid? (My mother so loved Errol Flynn, tights and all). I haven’t seen mention of tights, but Andrew Tickell’s Sunday column about the “ridiculous royal pantomime” certainly nailed it all, especially with references to “several dead ferrets”!

But such swearing and the hopes from the Palace of Lambeth that there will be a “great cry around the nation and around the world of support for the King” comes over as lines from a panto script and not the reality of the coronation.

The reality is in the region of £100 million being paid out for a live soap opera with us as unpaid bit players.

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The reality is a family, an institution propped up by us, our money, with our taxes being spent on pomp and circumstance before the immediate priorities that are the day-to-day lived experiences of the current cost-of-living crisis. How sad there is no money to alleviate that situation, but fear not, the crisis will miraculously vanish from the headlines in the next few days to make way for a gluttony of celebration.

Some will “celebrate” wholeheartedly from belief, conviction, and a desire for continuity. The upper echelons of society will always welcome and adulate the hierarchy that rewards a few from the efforts of the many, for as long as they can. I doubt those celebrating will be the same people who had to choose to heat or eat, or the nurses who had to go to a food bank after a short-staffed shift. I doubt it will be the children who go to school hungry and look to a footballer for help. If you’ve gone on strike, lost your wages, in an effort to improve yourself, your family, what will you be celebrating?

WATCH: People of Glasgow react to call to pledge allegiance to King

The debate that has swept the Caribbean, and elsewhere across the Commonwealth, but that was never expected to gain traction here, is being fuelled by this Ruritanian opera. The disconnect between the royals, their advisers, the government and the general population is being laid bare. There must be some realisation about just how shoogly the royal family’s peg is. Or Is there a hope that all of this razzmatazz will become some salve that will somehow further entrench inherited entitlement?

A salve it will not be: you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

It does provide the opportunity to acknowledge that we’re being mugged and given modern-day bread and circuses. Perhaps now we should discuss the need for a monarchy – its role, its place within society – dispassionately and decide for ourselves.

Selma Rahman
Edinburgh

DURING the coronation of Charles III, the public will be asked to swear an oath of allegiance not only to the King but also his descendants.

This request is unusual for a coronation and is indicative of the insecurity surrounding the future of the monarchy.

These are uncertain times for the monarchy with the estrangement of Prince Harry and Meghan and the public disgrace of Prince Andrew. Charles has also narrowly avoided being egged on two recent occasions. Having a lavish coronation with all the pomp and ceremony that entails when the British public are struggling with the cost of living is tone deaf.

Furthermore, it would have not have gone amiss that a recent poll revealed that 72% of the people of Scotland are not interested in the coronation.

Sandy Gordon
Edinburgh

“MAY his Holy Highness live forever”. What sort of mumbo jumbo is that all about? Oh, and PS, I note that the price tag for this soiree has risen from £100m to £250m. Suddenly the Glen Sannox is a positive bargain.

Robin Hastie
St Andrews