Sans monarchy for over 100 years, a new survey has revealed that a minority of Germans are dreaming of becoming royal subjects once again.

Minority of Germans want a king or queen

The death of Queen Elizabeth II brought questions about the role of monarchy in a democratic society back to the forefront. Now, in the federal republic, a country that has been King-less for over 100 years, a representative survey by Stern has revealed that a few Germans are wishing for a royal renaissance.

According to the study, 8 percent of the population would like to see a much-delayed successor to Kaiser Wilhelm II. Germany’s last king abdicated on Schicksalstag (Day of Fate) in 1918, tanking the German Empire as the November Revolution swelled and he scurried off to the Netherlands to live in exile until his death. This figure is down from 9 percent since 2015 when the last survey was conducted.

14 percent of AfD voters want a royal family

Unsurprisingly, monarchist tendencies in Germany are divided across voting allegiances. Among respondents who said they voted Green, only 3 percent are in favour of re-establishing a royal family in Germany. Among AfD voters, however, 14 percent were in favour, and among “right-wing voters”, 15 percent supported the idea.

Enthusiasm among AfD voters to reinstate a German monarchy could have been predicted given the events of December 2022, when German police foiled a coup plot to overthrow the federal government. Among the 25 people arrested in connection to the Reichsbürger plot was former judge and AfD politician Birgit Malsack-Winkemann.

In a 2020 letter that would be shared on a German QAnon Telegram group, Malsack-Winkelmann and other Reichsbürger members explained how the movement planned to instate Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia as head of the so-called federal republic 2.0, “a monarchy at the mercy of its allies”.

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