A group of anti-monarchists based in England and Scotland have today issued a collection of digital trading cards to ridicule the British king and his coronation.
“We’ve simply had enough,” said John Davis, spokesperson for the group. The idea of a country full of fawning peasants who turn out in droves to take an oath of loyalty to a man who says ‘I am your king’ would be hilarious if it weren’t actually happening, right now, in 2023.”
The cards are on sale at Opensea.io, the digital marketplace where former US president Donald Trump also sells trading cards. On Twitter, the group operates as @noking1649.
Mr Davis explains: “1649 is a reference to the year England abolished its monarchy. “England got rid of its monarchy long before France did. Too bad they came back like a bad cheque.”
Card number 1 references last year’s news story about the then Prince of Wales receiving suitcases filled with 3 million euros from a Qatari prince.
Number 2 refers to the Koh-i-Noor diamond, handed over in dubious circumstances to the king’s ancestor in the 19th century and currently claimed by Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Iran.
Number 3 mocks the king for “his absurdly insecure desire to be seen as an official protector of every religion that will tolerate him. Perhaps getting presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh at Epiphany went to his head,” suggests Mr Davis.
Number 4 mentions how as soon as the royal family was restored to the throne in 1660 they founded the Royal African Company to run the slave trade. “The then Duke of York, who became king James III, had thousands of slaves branded with the initials DY. He is the man the city and state of New York are named after.”
Cards 5-12 include references to the subjugation of Ireland and to a commitment to “crush” the “rebellious Scots” that appears in the anthem “God save the King”.
The design of the page selling the cards is consciously modelled on punk art from the 1970s.
