It’s one of the traditions that anyone who grew up before 24 hour TV will remember well. Once upon a time, when broadcasters shut down for the evening, they rounded off their day’s schedules with the National Anthem. Now, there are fresh calls for this tradition to be brought back.
A petition on the government website is calling for tall major channels to be made to play the anthem ‘at the end of the day’ while displaying a photograph of King Charles III on the screen.
Royal end to the day
For decades, transmission on BBC One and BBC Two used to end with the playing of the national anthem. However, that was put aside when 24 hour broadcasting began and now would be seen as antiquated. The petitioner states that they believe ”patriotism is important and that His Majesty deserves it”.
Anyone can upload a petition to the government website and if it reaches 10,000 signatures the government will respond to it. So far, this call has brought in 36 signatures.
It’s not the first time that a call has been made for the return of the national anthem to TV. MPs have also asked for it to be put back on at the end of the day with Conservative member for Romford, Andrew Rosindell, making the appeal in the House of Commons just two years ago.
The national anthem petition isn’t the only royal themed call on the website right now. Another calls for the amount of money spent on statues and memorials for former Monarchs to be limited to £3 million. The petitioner states that it should be capped as people are ”facing high costs of living; having to use food banks….we think any additional requirements must be met by private donations and/or from the royal family themselves.”
The plans for a permanent memorial to Queen Elizabeth II are now being developed with up to £46 million put aside for the budget.
The petition to limit funds has 54 signatures.
The return of a long forgotten king
Another petition has a rather unusual royal request. It’s asking for a public holiday to be created on July 12th 2027 for the people of England to mark the 1100th anniversary of Athelstan being recognised as the first ruler of a unified England. It states that ”The 1100th Anniversary of Alfred styling himself ‘King of the Anglo Saxons’ was widely marked in 1986, and therefore I think it’s appropriate to begin planning to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of another of the most significant events in England’s founding.”
It’s so far attracted 196 signatures.
The government e-petition system went live in 2015 and permitted anyone to list an idea for consideration. If a petition reaches 10,000 signatures, the government will respond to it. If it reaches 100,000 or more signatures then there could be a parliamentary debate about it. Recent issues talked about include raising the income tax threshold.
Royalty and royal related issues do sometimes appear in the petitions. In the past year there have been calls to make the Monarchy pay corporation and capital gains tax on income from its estates (reached 125 signatures) while one called for a full review of the Crown estate and royal duchies (285 signatures).
Other petitions are rejected straight away, often because there is already one online about the same issue. Others can’t be changed by government such as the call to refill the Tower of London moat with water – parliament can’t order Historic Royal Palaces to do that so the petition was turned down.
