As election season looms on the horizon in England, don’t expect King Charles III to cast his ballot.
According to the U.K. parliament’s website, though “not prohibited by law, it is considered unconstitutional for the monarch to vote in an election. The election, which occurs on July 4, will elect Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. Conservative and Labor parties remain the most dominant in England, and whichever party receives the most votes will see its leader become prime minister. The party with the second most votes becomes leader of the opposition.
Royals are known for shying away from any discussion of politics, whether its general elections or special elections.
When some onlookers speculated that Queen Elizabeth II might have offered a statement about Scotland’s independence ahead of the 2014 referendum, telling a fan that she hoped “people will think very carefully about the future,” Buckingham Palace swiftly stepped in.
“The monarch is above politics and those in political office have a duty to ensure that this remains the case. Any suggestion that the Queen would wish to influence the outcome of the current referendum campaign is categorically wrong,” the palace said in a statement.
Prince Harry, for his part, revealed in 2020 that he was never given the opportunity to vote. The royal, 39, appeared at a Time100 event to discuss the importance of the presidential election, encouraging Americans to cast their ballot.
“This election, I’m not going to be able to vote here in the US,” he explained. “But many of you may not know that I haven’t been able to vote in the UK my entire life. As we approach this November, it’s vital that we reject hate speech, misinformation, and online negativity.”
Harry’s American-born wife, Meghan Markle, also noted that the royal was never allowed to cast his ballot while discussing the importance of voting with 19th News that same year.
“I look at my husband for example; he’s never been able to vote, and I think it’s such an interesting thing to say the right to vote is not a privilege, it is a right in of itself,” she said.
Markle, 42, became the first royal to vote in a national election in 2020, with sources telling Newsweek, “The duchess is voting.” She even did her own canvassing, according to Gloria Steinem, who revealed during an Access Hollywood interview that the pair urged Americans to vote via telephone.
“She came home to vote and the first thing we did, and why she came to see me… was we sat at the dining room table here, where I am right now, and cold-called voters,” Steinem recounted. “And said, ‘Hello, I’m Meg,’ and, ‘Hello, I’m Gloria,’ and, ‘Are you going to vote?’ And that was her initiative.”
