11

We are seeing cases of people being arrested in UK for holding #NotMyKing signs or something along these lines. My question here is not about the legality of those police actions.

My question is: as a UK citizen opposed to monarchy, do I have any legal obligation of differential treatment towards the king/queen if I stumble upon them on the pavement or can I treat them exactly like any other ordinary citizen? In a purposefully exaggerated way for the sake of clarification, a law that states something like "you must address the king as 'your highness' or you will be arrested", or "thou shalt vacate thy seat if the king enters the bus".

phoog
  • 42,299
  • 5
  • 91
  • 143
Megaptera novaeangliae
  • 413
  • 3
  • 7

1 Answers1

12

Lèse majesté is not prosecuted in the UK

While it is still technically illegal to advocate the abolition of the monarchy under the Treason Felony Act of 1848, more recent freedom of speech laws means that it is not possible to bring a successful prosecution. The only reason it hasn’t been abolished is that Parliament has better things to do and, since the government doesn’t bring charges under it, the courts can’t quash it.

So, the Monarch has the same legal protections as anyone else.

Dale M
  • 237,717
  • 18
  • 273
  • 546