4 New Chances to Wager on the Future of the British Royal Family

2021 has been a tumultuous year for the British Royal Family. Thankfully, for us commoners, their scandals and palace dramas mean more entertainment betting opportunities for the rest of us!

The recent passing of Prince Philip, at the age of 99, has royal watchers around the world wondering what the British monarchy will look like in the presumably near future. The Queen isn’t much younger than her late husband and is reportedly in a deep state of mourning since his passing.

The prospect of the Queen either abdicating her position or passing away has inspired bookmakers at BetOnline.ag to handicap what’s next for the Royal Family. There are currently four sets of betting odds on the subject:

• Will Prince Charles become king by 2025?
• Will Prince William become king by 2025?
• Will the UK hold a referendum on whether to retain the monarchy?
• Will Prince Andrew be indicted?

What makes these wagers so interesting is how they’re all intertwined.

For example, Britons’ opinions on retaining the monarchy or becoming a republic will be heavily impacted by whether Charles or William becomes king.

Following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s devastating Oprah interview and exposure of Prince Andrew’s scandalous relationship with pedophile Jeffery Epstein (and his disastrous interview on the matter) have already done irreparable harm to Royal Family’s image — further paving the way for a referendum.

According to a recent poll, 18% of respondents think the UK should no longer have a monarchy – the highest percentage ever recorded. And that’s with the Queen still alive and active! What happens when King Charles is on the throne and not the nation’s beloved “mum?” The Royal Family may not survive that scenario.

So, what are they going to do?

• Is there a way for William to cut ahead of his father and give the people their preferred king?
• If not, will the monarchy survive long enough for William to succeed Charles as planned?
• Will the Queen rule beyond 2025, the cutoff date for BetOnline.ag’s succession wagers?

The Queen and her Royal Family have much to contemplate while there’s still time.

Meanwhile, all any of the rest of us can do is observe and place our bets. Maybe Elizabeth II will see the odds and use them to inform her next moves. She’s always struck me as the online gambling type.

Plus, — and perhaps, most importantly — these wagers transform gossipy fairytale crap into a bonafide extended entertainment event. It’s lame to care about nonsense like royalty all on their own, but once you have a stake in the action, palace drama technically counts as a sport!

Prince Charles to Become King by 2025?

Prince Charles is the first-born son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and thus first in the line of succession. The 72-year-old Prince of Wales has spent his entire life waiting to become king. Of course, that can only happen once his mother dies or relinquishes her unprecedented lengthy rule.

Unfortunately for Charles, by the time he ascends to the throne, he’ll be well into his 70s at the earliest. And age may be the least of his worries.

Changing Tides

Watching how political opinions are changing in the UK – especially regarding the public’s views on the royals – the longest-serving heir apparent in British history may never see his destiny realized.

A survey of 1,590 British citizens conducted between March 31 and April 1 by Deltapoll found the following:

• 47% of the respondents wanted William to be king after Elizabeth II,
• 27% said they wanted Charles.
• 41% believe the Queen should remain on the throne until she dies,
• 27% said she should abdicate if she is not in good health,
• 21% think she should abdicate while still in good health.

This next set of poll results are also indicative of change on the horizon:

• Prince Harry is more popular among younger Brits between 18 and 24 and 24 and 40 – Generation Z and Millenials, respectively.
• 23% of millennials want Harry to be the king.
• 23% of Generation Z respondents also wants Prince Harry to be king,
• Only 22% of the youngest demographic said they prefer William to be king.
• Older voters feel the exact opposite. Only 5% of baby boomers between the ages of 57 and 75 want to see Harry on the throne.

So, we have Prince William far outpacing his father 47% to 27%, then Prince Harry garnering more support among the youngest residents of the UK than his popular brother.

Then, of course, there’s the previously mentioned 18% of respondents who want the monarchy abolished altogether.

The Royal Family has significant problems ahead. As the baby boomers die off, support for the monarchy looks poised to dwindle. Britain’s youngest voters prefer the Prince that quit the family and moved to America over the top two heirs in the line of succession.

These numbers must be concerning for senior royals.

They don’t even account for how many people’s allegiance to the monarchy is tied to their love of the Queen exclusively. Once she’s gone, how many will maintain their support?

The Queen Will Never Abdicate

As the UK constitution is written now, Charles becomes king immediately after the Queen dies. So, even if he responds to public pressure and has only a brief reign, he’ll still have been king.

In that sense, the bet is merely asking if you believe the Queen will live to be 99.

That may sound like a reasonable bet with your average run-of-the-mill old granny, but royals live long lives.

For example, her mother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, lived to be 101. There must be something about being given billions of dollars in land, jewels, and cash just for being born, never having to work a real job, and living a life of extreme opulence that’s good for one’s health!

It’s doubtful that the Queen will pass away so soon. In that case, Charles’s only other chance to become king before 2025 is for his mother to abdicate and retire from royal service. Experts say that’s never going to happen.

Unlike other European monarchs, Harris explains that Elizabeth II’s coronation was a religious ceremony containing sacred oaths. Not only would the Queen be going back on her promise to the country, but she’d also be betraying promises to God.

Just imagine where such a decision would leave the monarchy.

If anything, the royal family needs Queen Elizabeth II on the throne for as long as possible. She’s barely holding it all together as it is, despite being adored by most Brits.

Breaking her 1952 vows so that her despised inbred son (Prince Philip and Elizabeth were third cousins) can become king might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for the taxpayers who fund all of their nonsensical luxuries.

Many Want Charles to Step Aside

A majority of the UK would prefer Charles steps aside whenever the day comes that Queen Elizabeth II’s historically lengthy reign ends.

• Some royal experts argue that the Prince of Wales would never do such a thing after waiting so long – but what if he doesn’t have much choice?
• What if he’s forced to choose between his coronation and Britain’s constitutional monarchy?

Prince Charles has several variables working against him right now:

• Season 4 of The Crown was released in late November and reopened old wounds for Brits, reminding them of his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles while still married to Princess Diana.
• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah is being called the most severe royal crisis in decades. In addition to exposing racism behind the scenes of The Firm, Harry made comments about his father refusing to take his calls, cut him off financially, and generally feeling “let down” by his father.

• Economic conditions are worsening, and the British people are pursuing change through increasingly desperate measures. Brexit was a shot across the bow. The National Healthcare System is being stripped down, living standards are falling, and unemployment is rising.

  If the situation continues to deteriorate, it will be much more difficult to convince citizens that funding the royals’ expensive, non-tax-paying existence isn’t worth the mythological “billions of tourist money” the family allegedly generates. Once the Queen is gone, those costs will be considerably harder to justify.

For those reasons and more, senior royals may realize the folly of crowning a generally disliked septuagenarian. The monarchy may find itself in a position where their only hope of survival is to crown Prince William with the promise of modernity and a “new generation of royals.”

Prince Charles has dedicated his entire life to the Royal Family and becoming king. In a way, it’s almost poetic that in the end, the best thing he’ll be able to do for The Firm is abdicating himself from the line of succession.

For starters, I expect the Queen to be alive and on the throne. She won’t retire because she knows her son is an idiot and would be a disaster in that position. However, he will continue to take on more of the Queen’s duties, such as traveling and meeting heads of state, but without the title.

Prince William to be King by 2025?

Prince William’s odds of becoming king suffer from some of the same obstacles as Charles’s, only with his father’s presence adding another hurdle to overcome. If the Queen lives beyond 2025, neither heir has a chance.

Still, I’m not ready to write off the possibility of William ascending to the throne instead of his father just yet. Neither are a few experts on the monarchy.

However, not everyone agrees. Speaking on the possibility of Prince William leapfrogging his father, journalist and royal commentator Melissa Hoyer scoffed at the idea. “As if Charles will do that, he has waited all this time.”

Speaking on Australia’s The Morning Show, Hoyer continued: “He is ready to step up whether we like it — whether England likes it, I don’t know.”

Hoyer also floated the theory that the father-son duo will work together. “But I think they will probably share duties a bit, to be honest, William and Charles. They will be like double kings.”

If Melissa Hoyer is correct, the monarchy will crown Prince Charles as planned and ensure William has a prominent role in creating the illusion of freshness and change.

According to the Constitution Unit, an independent research center at University College London, specializing in “the study of parliament and parliamentary reform; elections and referendums; monarchy, church and state; devolution; constitution-making” and more:

Additionally:

Prince William could only become King if Prince Charles chose to abdicate.

That would require legislation, as happened with the Declaration of Abdication Act 1936.

The line of succession is regulated by Parliament (as in the Act of Succession 1700, and the Succession to the Crown Act 2013); it can be changed only by Parliament and cannot be unilaterally altered by the monarch.

It’s hard to imagine Parliament passing legislation to change the line of succession laws to allow UK citizens to elect an heir of their choosing. At least, not within the next four years. Though, it may eventually be an acceptable compromise if Brits are close to abolishing the monarchy in favor of a republic.

That leaves us with three possibilities for William becoming king before 2025:

1. Prince Charles retires from royal duties and abdicates before the Queen dies.
2. The Queen dies relatively soon, but Charles’s reign ends before 2025.
3. Charles passes away before his mother. Perhaps the Prince of Wales won’t be gifted with the customary royal longevity; his parents were related, after all.

I believe the likeliest scenario is Charles becoming king but quickly abdicating amid public threats to become a republic.

All signs point to the global economic crisis worsening over the next several years. It will grow harder and harder to convince the workers of the UK that funding one family’s lavish lifestyle makes any sense whatsoever. And Queen Elizabeth II will be nearing 100 as the economic downturn reaches its apex.

For most of modern history, the Royal Family could weather such a storm. I’m not sure the same can be said for Prince Charles – especially in the current political and economic climate.

I don’t know if Charles will die prematurely or be pressured into resigning, but my intuition tells me the poor guy wasted his life waiting for a job he will never have. He’ll be like Daenerys Targaryen and the Iron Throne.

UK to Hold Referendum on Whether to Retain the Monarchy Before 2025?

Change on a national or global stage feels like it’s moving exceptionally slowly until seemingly overnight; everything is turned upside-down at blindingly fast speeds. Once the conditions are set, it only takes the slightest catalyst for revolution to break out or for a world power like the former USSR to collapse.

I believe the British monarchy is on such a path. Queen Elizabeth’s extraordinarily long reign and popularity with the public – most of whom have never known life without her – has held the scandal-ridden family together and kept talks of referendum mostly at bay. However, all signs point to a dramatic shift in attitude towards the royals as soon as she’s gone.

Anna Isaac, writing for Politico, summed it up perfectly:

Diane Abbott, the first Black female member of Parliament, also spoke on the post-Elizabeth UK in a recent Vanity Fair cover story about the royals.

Read the writing on the wall; the monarchy will not be afforded its same powers and privileges after the Queen is gone. The people’s affinity for her keeps the house of cards from falling, but once that sentimental connection is gone, all bets are off.

From a betting perspective, the value of picking “Yes” on a UK referendum vote is entirely dependent upon how many years you believe Elizabeth II has left. Assuming Charles succeeds his mother as planned, I predict a referendum on whether to retain the monarchy will be held within 18 months.

Will Prince Andrew be Indicted?

Prince Andrew is Charles’s estranged younger brother. He was a close friend and travel companion of infamous convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

In fact, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a victim of Epstein’s, accused the Prince of sleeping her on three different occasions when she was underage. There’s even a picture of the two together in which Andrew’s arm is around the young teen.

When the Epstein story made headlines after the pedophile sex trafficker “committed suicide” in his cell – coincidentally at the exact moment all the cameras in the prison malfunctioned, and both guards on duty fell asleep at their posts – Prince Andrew took to the airwaves to clear his name.

Only he came across as such a lying buffoon; he made matters exponentially worse for himself and the royal family. Andrew was subsequently forced to “step back from public duties for the foreseeable future.”

The problem is that US authorities have no jurisdiction to arrest and extradite a member of the British Royal Family. If he ever steps foot inside the United States again, he’ll be detained – which is precisely why that’s never going to happen.

I would love to bet on Prince Andrew being indicted, but he will live out his life on sprawling gorgeous estates owned by the crown away from the public eye. There will be no legal recourse, but when his mother passes away, and the monarchy is abolished, Andrew’s many rides on Epstein’s Lolita Express will enter history as a key motivating factor behind the birth of the UK Republic.