Spotlight on Charles: King of a union 'at risk'

Former Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers has acknowledged there are risks to the future stability of the UK but believes King Charles and the Royal Family will continue to provide an important symbol of unity she hopes will be part of a process of "continuing positive advocacy for keeping our nation together".

Interviewed for BBC Northern Ireland's Spotlight programme, Charles's Kingdom, Ms Villiers says that in the light of both the SNP's continuing campaign for Scottish independence and talk about a future border poll in Northern Ireland it was crucial "for everyone who believes in the union to make a really positive case for it".

She said they needed to engage with the wider business community and civil society "to explain that unity and working together has tremendous advantages and the UK is the most successful political union in history".

Last week the results of the 2021 Northern Ireland Census revealed that for the first time since the formation of the state 100 years ago people from a Catholic background now outnumber those from the Protestant community.

Ms Villiers told Spotlight: "Undoubtedly, demographic change means it's more important than ever for those of us who believe in the union to make a positive case for it.

"I absolutely don't think attitudes to the union have to split down sectarian lines.

"We need to try and cross those divides, to explain the social, cultural and economic benefits of staying together as one United Kingdom," she added.

Commenting on discussion about a potential border poll, the Northern Ireland Office has said there is "no clear basis to suggest that a majority of people in Northern Ireland presently wish to separate from the United Kingdom".

Also speaking to Spotlight, Sinn Féin's North Belfast MP John Finucane said the census results, combined with other developments, show "we are living in a society that has changed and there is a momentum and a trajectory towards further change on this island".

He argued that "there is a conversation around constitutional change", adding that he believed an Irish unity referendum was inevitable.

He said he did not know whether King Charles would be the last monarch to reign over Northern Ireland "but what I do think is that constitutional change will be coming to this island".

Mr Finucane met the new monarch and shook his hand when King Charles visited St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast on his first trip to Northern Ireland as sovereign.

Questioned about criticism from some grassroots republicans about Sinn Féin's contacts with the Royal family, the MP explained that he and Michelle O'Neill had passed their condolences on to a man who had lost his mother.

"We were respectful and we were also recognising the significant contribution that his mother Queen Elizabeth played in advancing peace and reconciliation," he said.

"My own experience is that this is something that republicans were comfortable with."

Spotlight followed Northern Ireland supporters of the Royal Family who flew over to London to queue all night in order to pay their respects to the late Queen when she was lying in state at Westminster Hall.

Historian Gareth Russell predicted that if there was constitutional change in Northern Ireland "the strength of royalist enthusiasm within the loyalist or unionist community would last for quite some time after any border poll, potentially for at least two, three, four generations".

The SNP has made it clear that if it achieves independence for Scotland it wants King Charles and his successors to continue to act as head of state.

Asked if, in the event of a vote for a United Ireland, he could envisage any continuing symbolic role for the Royal family, Mr Finucane said: "I'm an Irish republican, I'm not a monarchist, but the conversation around constitutional change on this island is not something that has been determined and is then imposed upon anybody."

"The shape of a new Ireland is for all of us to have input into, everything needs to be on the table for conversation."

Spotlight, Charles's Kingdom, is available on the BBC iPlayer