The Scottish Greens will snub the King and turn down their invitations to the Coronation, their co-leader has said. Patrick Harvie said the party, which is in coalition with the SNP at Holyrood, had received invites for the once-in-a-lifetime event at Westminster Abbey on May 6 where Charles will be crowned alongside Camilla.
But Mr Harvie said no one from his party, which wants to see Scotland break away from the UK, was “remotely interested” in attending.
The Scottish Greens co-leader told The National: “We obviously got a party allocation of invitations, but I think all of us will be able to think of better things to do with our day.
“All the parties in parliament got an allocation by numbers, but I don’t think we have anyone who is remotely interested in attending it.”
It comes as the party is holding an event on republicanism in Scotland in Edinburgh on Sunday.
He said: “We felt this period in the run-up to the Coronation was an appropriate and really important time to be setting out and reminding people that there are alternatives to the current UK arrangements for what should be a functional office within government.
“The head of state should be a functional office within government which operates within a reasonable financial limit.”
The snub from the Scottish Greens comes despite Charles being known for his decades of environmental campaigning.
Humza Yousaf was at the centre of a Coronation vow after breaking his pledge to attend a Scottish independence march on the same day.
During the bruising SNP leadership race, Mr Yousaf and his rivals Kate Forbes and Ash Regan vowed to make speeches at the All Under One Banner (AUOB) event in Glasgow on May 6.
Mr Yousaf later insisted he would try and attend both the rally and the Coronation despite them being around the same time and hundreds of miles apart.
But organisers were forced to remove his name from the list of speakers after the Scottish Government earlier this month confirmed the new First Minister would be attending the Coronation.
The SNP leader, who took over from Nicola Sturgeon last month, sparked the anger of nationalists by pulling out of the AUOB event.
The group said: “It is clear that Scotland’s First Activist is under no obligation to go to the coronation – it’s his choice not his duty. During this invitation process we’ve discovered that a deputy can be sent to London.”
Mr Yousaf declared during the SNP leadership race that Scotland could ditch the monarchy within five years of independence.
He said: “Let’s also talk about things like monarchy. I don’t know why we should be shy about that, I don’t think we should be.
“I’ve been very clear, I’m a Republican. That’s never been anything I’ve hidden.
“And it’s not an immediate priority, I accept that. But when we’re independent, we’ll need to get our central bank up and running, we’ll need to transition to a new Scottish currency, which I’ve been keen to do as quickly as possible.
“But let’s absolutely within the first five years consider whether or not we should move away from having a monarchy into an elected head of state.”
