The Monarchy: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

John Oliver. The only Oliver who hates the monarchy more than Cromwell.

I know an indigenous Canadian, my age, who, while we played disc golf, told me how whenever the Government boat came into the village's inlet he had to hide. He did this successfully, so he fully learned his people's language and did not disappear into an unmarked grave at a boarding school due to abuse. Now I hated school, but my god, there's plenty of stories about similar mistreatment of native children in the US, and we think we're good guys.

Thank you for covering the way the Kikuyu were treated by the British in retaliation to the Mau Mau rebellion. My husband's family suffered. Some were imprisoned, some were tortured. One was tortured so badly she could never have children.

It was brilliant to see this. The amount of obsequious coverage of the royals, even in Ireland where I’m from, was nauseating. Especially given our history.

I find the £500 million tourism figure VERY suspicious. Any decent accountant would take that figure and try to estimate what portion of it would be lost if there was no British monarchy. I suspect that MAYBE five percent of tourists visit Buckingham Palace BECAUSE of the monarchy. Oliver made an excellent point about Versailles, which I’ve visited despite the absence of a French King.

As an Australian, I am 10000% behind you John ! I can't wait to get rid of that ridiculous family that has nothing to do with this Country.

As someone who strongly believes that people who commit funny crimes deserve equally funny punishments, the case of egg man brought a tear to my eye

I looked it up and was happy to see that this episode did indeed air on the Sky network in Great Britain. Congratulations John. You got one past their censors.

I worked for the government in Canada and had to recite the pledge to the Queen after my HR orientation. I was completely surprised by the requirement and was told it was a must to work there. When I asked if I had to do it they said your only option is you can choose to omit "so help me God" at the end... I was like, so I can remove God if I don't believe in God but can't omit the entire pledge if I think the monarchy is stupid.

Why is it that the people who think they should not be held responsible for what their ancestors did still seem to think they deserve to inherit what their ancestors stole?

My mom is 91 years old. She’s an Irish Catholic born in the north of Ireland. She’s been in Canada since 1957. She doesn’t have her citizenship cause she won’t pledge allegiance to the queen.

Let us all remember the wisdom that lizzie in the box emparted us before she passed away, " we should embrace modest materialism" while she was sitting on her golden throne.

It's crazy seeing the historical topic, the Mau Mau uprising, which i've spent like five years studying, is actually on HBO. AND they use THE interview with Terrance Gavaghan, genuinely one of the most insane documentary interviews of all time. Massive props to the interviewer in that clip, John McGhie, the way he held this war criminal's feet to the fire calmly and methodically was absolutely pitch perfect journalism.

I love that they fact check everything . It’s nice to be able to get interested in something without having to question if any of what you are learning is actually true.

The level of sarcasm and derision in Lidia Thorpe's delivery of the oath. Absolutely legendary.

I spent a gap year in England in the mid80s. I never saw the Queen or any of the Royal family. They were an insignificant part of my time there. If the monarchy were abolished tomorrow you’d still get the same amount of tourists, arguably more because we’d be able to take a tour inside Buckingham Palace, Balmoral Castle, etc, which you can’t do now.

Thank you for this brilliant program. I am a 78 year old, anti royalist and I remember the disgusting situation in Kenya and it was this that started me being politically aware. I hope to see the end of the system of royalty which would also negate the house of lords. These people have stolen from working people for hundreds of years.

Thank you for this John - as a Brit in favour of abolishing the monarchy Im glad there’s someone influential talking about it like this. The institution has done nothing for us and has actively oppressed many others, I’m glad this is being brought to light!

This episode did in fact air in full on the Sky network. Way to go, Mr. Oliver.

I'm an American, living in Las Vegas. I've frequently run into Londoners....the first question I ask them is: "what do you think of the Monarchy ?" Literally 100% of them give me the same stock answer: "because of the Monarchy, we make millions from tourism." I've been to London...I don't remember being invited into Buckingham Palace or any of the royal gardens. If the Monarchy ends, my guess is tourism will INCREASE. The mansions, palaces and gardens will still bring tourists...nothing will change.

Brilliant analysis by John Oliver. He is peeling off the dark and evil deeds layer by layer, which have been hidden for far too long!

Absolutely excellent piece John! As always, spot-on catalyzing the most interesting discussions to be had in modern society.

Although the crown is deeply unpopular with Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand), we receive reparations thanks to our treaty- through which we have been given back a small fraction of the land promised to us by the crown. To sever all relationships to the crown would likely release them from any further responsibility to our peoples. We are trapped in an unhappy relationship with the crown until they fulfil their obligations- which doesn't seem to be happening any time soon

Thank you for this. Brits royals have gotten free pass for so long when they looted our Indian continent, partitioned the country and millions of families died. It is convenient to forget the past if it has not impacted your culture, your country or your families.

I find it hilarious that there's a man who's legally not allowed to purchase eggs. I'm just picturing him buying a dozen eggs at his local grocery store and an entire swat team just busts in and tackles him to the ground

Not many shows get stronger going into their 10th season. Glad to see LWT is one. I hope he continues for many more years

Kenya and other colonial atrocities were directed by Winston Churchill. I learned that this year and was truly upset. He's always been presented as a hero.

Wow John, you absolutely nailed it in your very own unique way. 10/10

The football chant was ok. But the best one was when they held a minutes applause at a Glasgow Celtic game. The thinking being there’s no way Celtic fans would respect a minute’s silence, the Celtic fans chanted, while all the officials, opposition fans etc were applauding “If you hate the Royal Family clap your hands” to the tune of If You’re Happy and you Know It”. Oh man, it was hilarious. 😂😂

I pretty much lost it laughing so hard at the "Lizzie in the box" section and I kept laughing and laughing. That felt like going to church in a good way. BTW when I found out she died, I went around the house singing "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead". I know the queen was just a product of her up bringing but yeah so much toxic crap that wasn't just about colonizing but she hurt all her kids and grandkids and great-grand kids. Unless Charles and/or William make a 180' on their toxic stuff, those kids of Williams are in an abusive toxic situation. I'm glad that Harry seems to be trying to heal and shift things but the rest of the family needs to follow suite. Maybe if they do they can be a shining light of important change for all humanity.

I'm Kenyan and a Kikuyu and a huge fan of John Oliver. He has said what I have wanted the world to hear about the royal family and colonialism. My mum was just telling me that her parents and all their children were forced to live in specific villages/camps where they could be monitored by the white oppressors so what J.O says is completely true thank you

I grew up in Canada and have indigenous, Acadian, and Irish ancestry. All of whom were abused by the English. I have been an American citizen for about 10 years now. I was tickled pink when I took my oath here and read aloud the words "I relinquish all loyalties to foreign princes and potentates."

I'm Canadian and I can tell you right now that we couldn't care less about the British family.

Stories of Australian indigenous atrocities - sounds exactly what happened in Canada where they are finding hundreds/thousands of unmarked graves around all the “Residential Schools”!

Another great show John Oliver! As always,you have humor mixed in with the serious topic! I love you4 show! Go John,go! ❤❤❤❤

As a UK citizen, I'd love to know when that poll was taken because I wasn't asked whether I want to keep the royal family. For what it's worth, I do not.

“They might seriously want to think about why. Why they and everyone else are working so hard not to offend a family *whose name was branded into people’s skin and who sit atop a pile of stolen wealth wearing crowns adorned with other countries’ treasures* .” So well and poignantly said.

You sir are bang on!! As each generation comes about their opinions of the monarchy have changed for a lot of people. The older people see the advantage of having them, kind of a like celebrity. The younger people don’t understand why they exist…..I fall into the second group and I’m a boomer!

The Mickey and Minnie comparison really works on a few levels

As a Canadian, I don't really care about the monarchy with respect to the UK, but I think it's anachronistic for our head of state to be a foreigner.
And the legacy of residential schools is a national shame.

John should do a segment about absolute monarchies because those absolutely shouldn't exist in this day and age

Thank you! Lidia Thorpe got so much crap for that and its so good actually hearing from someone outside of Australia just how fucked up it is that she was made to say that shit. Its only logical that she wouldn't want to and she shouldn't have had to, swear allegiance to the coloniser, the Queen.

There were actual concentration camps set up in Kenya during the colonialist era where locals were detained, tortured and killed. The British government attempted to erase this from history, but we remember. Thank you John Oliver for never hesitating to bring forward the hidden truths and uncomfortable conversations

Imagine if we spent that 1£ per person on the NHS.. as an NHS worker I really resent giving my hard earned money even it is 1£ for this extremely rich family who do not contribute to society in anyway.

This is a very good and very intelligent (and fun) discussion of the topic. Thank you. Well done.

I've always put a lot of inference on Britain's role in our own slavery issues. And this segment by John, certainly helps my opinion. Because it wasn't Americans that brought initial slavery into our sights. It was England. This kind of thing is why history I believe, has been adjusted to make our past, palatable. Cause I think the honest truth may sicken us.

I think the huge amount of attention and public mourning of Elizabeth compared to how nobody seems to give a shit about Charles proves that people viewed the death of the Queen not as the death of a revered politician or ruler, but as the death of a pop culture icon

Long overdue. Well said, and backed up with facts. I couldn't agree more.

My grandfather was a detainee in one of the detention camps during the Mau Mau emergency in Kenya. For five years he endured harsh interrogations (beatings, hours in stress position, starvation, forced labor) until he was able to convincingly renounce an oath he had never taken in the first place. When he left the camp, he found two of his children had died and my grandmother and the rest of his children on the point of starvation from being forcibly housed in a concentration village (yes concentration as in WW2 concentration camps) with no access to food. Thank you JO for bringing this atrocity to light. Anyone seeking more information read Imperial Reckoning by Caroline Elkins

I remember reading an anecdote online about a football match between a Scottish team and an Irish team and someone had a sign there to goad the opposition that said, "We hate England more than you!" 😅

I would like to make just one defence of Charles here:
"Dig that crazy rhythm" is a quote from The Goons Show, a satirical radio show from the 50s that constantly poked fun at everything. It was said by characters who were chronically out of touch. Spike Milligan who wrote the show even insulted Charles live on national television and he thought it was hysterical.

I can’t believe that Australia still haven’t gotten rid of the monarchy after the Queen’s representative, the Governor-General, dissolved the parliament. Imagine if the British ambassador to the US removed the president and the entirety of congress and people were just like, “yeah, that’s something he should be allowed to do”

It is incredibly hard for humans to accept accountability for average mistakes, let alone the enslavement and torture of other humans.
The Royal family’s refusal to acknowledge what was done tells you everything you need to know. Deep in their hearts, they know they have a lot to answer for

Love John Oliver! So sane, so funny and so damn right!

Thank you for highlighting the maumau story, my grandfather who is still alive and in his nineties was a victim of that horror, he was detained in Kismayu in Somalia and watched his siblings burnt alive, only a sister remained. He usually narrates these stories alot. He says before everything was forcefully taken away his family were actually wealthy landowners.

Speaking truth to power while making us all laugh! Way to go Steve you are a gem!

While recognizing that there is a _lot_ of information to get across in 30 minutes, a bit more on the Canadian Residential Schools needed to be talked about, particularly about the _multiple_ mass graves where hundreds of child remains were recently found (and are still being discovered). I have a difficult time imagining the horror and pain felt by the Indigenous peoples of Canada, however, as a 3rd or 4th Generation Canadian from an Irish family, I've always been happy to say I'm Canadian. I've always thought that Canada was a pretty decent place to live. That we stood up for what was right and came to the aid of others when they were in desperate need. Sure, for some mind-boggling reason, we tacitly pledge (as a nation) fealty to a monarchy that has even less value in our society as Canadians than it does in the UK. Sure, we still force new citizens to verbally pledge fealty to the British monarchy and its sovereign as part of the Canadian Oath of Citizenship. However, none of our history even comes _close_ to the history of the USA, right? We as Canadians would _never_ engage in slave trade, or disenfranchise an entire people, or.... what?
__
Oh no. Oh _NO..._
_NONE_ of this stuff about Residential Schools was ever, _ever_ taught, mentioned, or even whispered about in hushed tones while in mixed company. I'm disgusted to call myself Canadian, as this one thing alone (and believe me, there are more examples than this) completely violates everything that I was taught about Canada, its history, and its people. I went to school with a great many First Nations kids. Did _they_ know? Did their _parents_ know? I'm _ashamed_ of Canada. I'm _horrified_ at the atrocities that were (and still are) being committed, especially toward First Nations people. That this (along with the Indian Act of 1867) was initially perpetrated by the British is...well, I was going to say "shocking", but truthfully I suppose I know better.
There is no need for a Royal Family. Not in the UK, not in any of the so-called "Commonwealth" countries, and _certainly_ not here in Canada. The Monarchist League boasts only about 10,000 members, and yet they've somehow managed to successfully prevent any real disengagement attempts from the monarchy since the League's inception in 1970. The Monarchist League is really the only reason there's still a required pledge of allegiance to the British monarchy in the Canadian Oath of Citizenship. That's ludicrous. 10,000 members in a country with over 38 million people? That's 0.03% of the population. How does their voice matter more than the 81% of Canadians who don't care/don't want any ties to the monarchy? Yes, only about 19% of the population at large would prefer the monarchy to remain a thing, and that number is expected to continue to drop as the years go by.
The British monarchy shouldn't be a thing, and anyone who supports it should be classified as a traitor.

Im Asian but have heard bits and pieces of how the glory of British monarchy came about at the expense of black and brown people's freedom & liberty but Oliver's humorous albeit factual commentary reinforced it in an enlightening way. Indeed the monarchy painfully lacks accountability to begin with and irrelevance is the least of their problems.

"The axe forgets, the tree remembers." African proverb.
"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." Also an African proverb.

Thank you for highlighting the atrocities that the British government carried out in "her majesty's name" in my home country of Kenya 🇰🇪

Watching this, there are two things I hope for NZ;
1 - that we might one day be shown on your map of the world
2 - that one day we will become a republic as well

You are so spot on. And all Americans need to see this and respect why we don't have a monarchy!!!!

I have watched this more than once. So eloquent. I watch stuff about the monarchy because it is like terrible reality TV but there is a 1000yrs of it.

I still remember being with a group of California kids in a restaurant, being served mashed peas alongside the worst fish'n'chips I've ever had, wondering at first why they heck the restaurant gave us wasabi at all, let along so much of it.

My family was exceedingly lucky to not go through the suffering other Kikuyu went through. Tales from my grandmother about the atrocities committed then are scary. Truly a shitty time in my country.

That colonial officer's response is chilling, not just because it says 'yes.'
But because it further says that he doesn't regret it.

Brilliant!! A marvelous overview of the history and ramifications of Colonialism.

As a Canadian i'm embarrassed largely by our British heritage. What they did to our indiginous peoples has been horrible and reprehensible. I think the monarchy is generally a disgrace to our country. I'm ashamed at most times of the history of my country. I would love to start that relationship over without the monarchy hanging overhead.

That Epstein joke was BRUTAL, god damn.

I can't listen to more than two sentences put together about the British Monarchy and/or its aristocratic elite without feeling burning rage in my veins.

Amazing segment! Well done Last Week Tonight!

As an American, hearing a British person mock an Australian accent was the highlight of my week

Brilliant thanks Last Week Tonight Team. Truth telling time 🙌🏽

If the Royal Family tied their lineage to being arbitors of social responsibility, starting with managing their properties for it, they'd become incredibly respected.

Invading country and calling resistance "terrorists" is not only British thing. The Americans did it in Iraq in 2003 and with British help too.

Absolutely love this. Thank you John Oliver. This has helped explain and validate my feelings.

"The people who annexed your people would like you to observe that they are deeply upset by your Country honoring it's native people over the head of the monarchy that deposed them."
~A very British man.

Fun fact John
The name 'Mau Mau' is not actually in the kikuyu language but actually just a phrase conjured up by the colonialist at the time from what they used to hear kikuyu people chant to them. The phrase/word that they would chant repeatedly was 'Uma' which translates to 'Get out' as a way of telling the British to go away from their lands. The word being said over and over, 'uma uma' was heard by the British as Mau Mau and thus the name was born.

You know, I'm no body language expert or anything but if yall watch that dude when asked if he gave the order to have the boots of colonizers put to the necks of Kenyans, not only did he laugh, but he nodded as well, before he went silent. He's a voyer. He liked to watch. He could easily say no, he didn't do those things, but when asked if he ordered others to do them, he very clearly did. Not only did he order it, but he watched and enjoyed watching, and that's when he began to reminisce before turning it to fantasizing about doing the same to the interviewer. That man is an open book even on film, and he didn't hide a single bit of himself despite trying to keep quiet. His face alone tells that story. Absolutely disgusting.

Thanks for touching on the Atrocity that is the Canadian residential schools. We need more attention on this.

I have a dear friend who lives in the UK, is a staunch supporter of the Monarchy and also happens to be Catholic. As much as I love her, we argue bitterly about the role that former colonial powers should take in Africa and the developing world. Like many people, she cannot see past her devotion to King and Country and put herself in the shoes of those who have a legacy of being oppressed by her government and the other so-called Great Powers.

Outstanding segment!!!! Interesting to see how people choose to twist, omit & or deny facts...

Great piece LWT! If you do another one, I would be interested in hearing about the British Tabloids & their relationship with the monarchy. I don’t know much, but it looks both parasitic, pawn-like, and mostly completely out of control. Maybe if the US had a monarchy, our evil right-wing press might have something else to focus on. What a mess!! -on both sides of the Pond!

Finally, the most British man reacts to the most British institution.

You actually have to ask for a card on your 100th birthday - it used to be just sent to you ( could have even been a bit of a note written in the card), but now its just a signed card that is mailed if requested because there are more and more people reaching 100.

For all the embarrassing things about being an American, I always feel feel better when I remember that some other countries have monarchs. Inside I'm doing the Nelson Muntz "HA-ha" and pointing down at you, Britain

1 old woman who lived a long and priviliaged life, passed away peacefully, and people were weeping and wailing in the streets for weeks..............but 8000 plus old people died in carehones across the UK alone, and all these same people just turned the channel over to Eastenders.

Tennessee resident here, I think a lot of this anti-LGBT stuff has gone so far so fast that it’s shocked a lot of the more moderate conservatives believe it or not. So I think that we have some leverage in that there are a lot of women in particular who are not OK with how the world is being Rams or the United States for that matter.
Warcrime eyes is the funniest thing I think I’ve ever heard scared all my cats away laughing… now I’m alone….DAMMIT JOHN U WILL PAY 👁️_👁️

Love John Oliver’s candidness.

Can I just say, I will never get tired of how perfectly John Olvier recreates the "50s British newscaster" voice. He's done it in countless episodes by now and it's always a highlight

John pronouncing vitamin instead of vit-a-min shows his allegiance to the states and I'm here for it 😌🤣

As a french canadian, I laughed a bit when she died. While generally English-Canadians are big big fans, we spend the day off on her birthday for moving. Litteraly, it's the date we put at the end of leases. She wasn't the worst from our end, mostly didn't do much, Britain as a whole for most of Canadian history was... not great, even for Anglos. The reason we got stuck making our own guns in WW1 is because they couldn't be bothered to send us a single freaking rifle. ''Well, why don't you set up a factory in Canada?'' ''lol no'' ''we'll pay for it'' ''noooope'' ''our own materials, you can have everything extra we just have a tiny militia right now!'' ''suck my ****''. There's also a bunch of stories during WW1 and 2.
Add to that a lot of bigotry against FCs in the past and now. It's much better these days but yeah... still get a lot of insulting stuff thrown at me or horrible comments on stuff, lots of examples.
Basically, not our Queen. Although some rare few are still fans. Not me.

The damned thing is, I think if the monarchy did come out and condemn all the atrocities committed by the British during their reign, and started paying compensation to people who suffered, it would go a long way in improving the public’s view of the monarchy

Trying to discuss colonialism in the UK is a nightmare, any mention of it is met with the stock responses of "it was years ago" and "it's nothing to do with me" and then the conversation gets shut down. Academics who write about the topic are routinely hounded by the press and the government, and teaching about the subject is heavily censored and constrained.
It will be a long time before the British are grown-up enough to face up to what happened, especially in the current political climate, I certainly won't see it in my lifetime.
To many British people it is a deeply shameful and appalling thing but, to the majority, it seems to be intrinsically woven into the continuing pretence that their sad, miserable, rainy little island is still a world power, and they are in no hurry to give up that delusion.

well said sir! I have always used similar words when talking about the spanish monarchy, even while I strongly believe the actual heirs (nor Spain) are not to be hated because what their ancestors did, BUT they still bear some "responsability" on commenting about that unlucky past PRECISELY because they are supposed to "represent" the State and its "continuity"... sincere words do not cost anything and open so many new roads to understanding and consciousness

I love how John is not a hypocrite. He's actually got offer from The Empire to get OBE but he refused. He doesn't want to owe them anything

You still have to pay for upkeep of a palace even if nobody lives inside it if you want to keep it as a tourist attraction or national monument.

The thing I just can’t stand is how everyone thinks the British monarchy is the only monarchy around the world. No one mentions the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Jordan, Spain, Morocco, Japan, Luxembourg, Cambodia, Thailand, etc etc etc.

Olga of Kiev (or am I misremembering) was guilty of large scale animal cruelty, but holy shit did she wreck the shitlords that killed her husband and tried to "give her a new one" as an apology.

A day without oppressing some groups of people is like a day without sunshine!