Steve Coogan says most royal fans are 'flag-waving idiots' as he denounces 'problematic' Windsors

26 October 2023, 09:41 | Updated: 26 October 2023, 09:46

Steve Coogan has said that royal fans are 'flag waving... idiots'
Steve Coogan has said that royal fans are 'flag waving... idiots'. Picture: Getty

By Kit Heren

Steve Coogan has called the majority of royal fans "flag-waving... idiots", while admitting he thinks the Queen was "alright".

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

The Alan Partridge star, known for his left-wing views, said that the royal family are part of a "power structure that keeps a foot on the throat of working-class people".

He said he thought most of the family were "problematic", other than the late Queen because she "worked very hard".

Coogan also admitted he likes the food sold by King Charles' Duchy Originals brand - but he said he was "torn" about eating it because he didn't think the royal family should exist at all.

Speaking on the Off Menu podcast, Coogan said: "Most people who are into [the Royal family] are flag-waving people who, I think, are kind of idiots because they support a power structure that keeps a foot on the throat of working-class people and I’m just not really keen on that type of people.

Listen to the whole podcast on Global Player

Steve Coogan
Steve Coogan. Picture: Getty

“But having said that, the Queen worked very hard so she was alright – the rest of them, they’re problematic for me.”

Charles' coronation was watched on TV by around 20 million people in the UK. Around 28 million watched the Queen's funeral, and hundreds of thousands queued to pay their respects to her as she lay in state.

Coogan said: "I do like King Charles’s Duchy of Cornwall produce even though I am an anti-monarchist.

"It’s interesting because I buy that stuff and I go ‘I don’t like having a Royal family but I do like his produce’ so I feel a bit torn."

Coogan's anti-monarchist views may not be totally out of step with the British population as a whole.

Read more: King Charles mourns 'heartbreaking loss of life' and calls for tolerance and respect amid Israel-Hamas conflict

Read more: King Charles makes poignant tribute to Queen Elizabeth on first anniversary of his mother's death

Crowds in Pall Mall during the Coronation of King Charles
Crowds in Pall Mall during the Coronation of King Charles. Picture: Getty

Just 29% of British people said the monarchy was very important in 2023, according to the National Centre for Social Research - the lowest figure since records began in 1983. A quarter of respondents said they wanted to abolish the monarchy.

In 2022, the year of the Queen's funeral, 38% said the royal family was very important. Some 46% said the same in 2012 - when she celebrated her diamond jubilee and appeared at the London Olympics opening ceremony.

Royal fans during the coronation
Royal fans during the coronation. Picture: Getty

Guy Goodwin, the centre's chief executive, said: "The majority of the public still support the royal family, and whilst support tends to be more amongst those aged 55 and over, the challenge going forward will be for the monarchy to deliver its relevance and appeal to a younger generation to maintain this support."

He added that it was "clear from the data that important national events and celebrations, such as jubilees, marriages and births, have a clear and positive effect on society’s views towards the monarchy".

More Latest News

See more More Latest News

Breaking
From Left to right Morgan Rogers, Paul O’Dwyer, Nicola Wheatley, and Andrea Powell.

Paddleboarding tour guide jailed for 10 years after leading tour in which four people drowned in flooded weir

A Government target to clear the record high backlog of driving tests will be missed by up to eight months, a Cabinet minister said.

Target to clear driving test backlog to be missed by up to eight months as half of learners forced to wait six months

A British man was lynched and burned alive in Ecuador after a vigilante mob stormed a police station where he was being held

Brit was burned alive in Ecuador after 'unstoppable' vigilante mob overpowered police

Skegness to have £23 million investment.

Britain's 'hellhole' seaside town getting £23 million transformation

.

Turner Prize nominees include videotape sculptures and an artist who uses 'salvaged' dolls

People evacuate buildings in panic and contact their loved ones after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Istanbul

Istanbul rocked by powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake

Ahmed Fahmy

Rapist hotel worker who crept into women's rooms to lick and grope feet jailed for 13 years

Nearly a quarter of pregnant women in the UK are thought to have anaemia.

Low iron in pregnancy linked to newborn heart disease in ‘gamechanger’ discovery

Seventeen Seventy, Queensland, Australia

Tributes paid to British father and son who drowned after being swept out to sea in Australia

Tamara Ecclestone and husband Jay Rutland has their £70m house ransacked in 2019.

Tamara Ecclestone's husband reveals they weren't insured for £25 million burglary

Freddie Mercury's ex Mary Austin auctioned off some of his belongings

Inside Freddie Mercury's family's battle to 'get back belongings worth millions', after ex-girlfriend auctions them off

Reading fans protesting against the club's owner Dai Yongge

Reading owner granted further extension to complete sale of club

Chris Eubank interviewed during the grand arrivals at The Pelligon, London. Picture date: Tuesday April 22, 2025.

'I’m the matador and Conor Benn is the bull', says Chris Eubank Jr ahead of grudge fight

The pope enters St Peter's Basilica

Pope Francis' body moved to St Peter's Basilica ahead of funeral, as thousands of mourners gather in the Vatican

Water coming out of a tap

Devon residents without water to receive £200 compensation, says MP

A graffitied house in Kilburn, north-west London

Mystery as homes and businesses across UK targeted with red paint, as balaclava-clad thugs seen spraying graffiti