ACTIVISTS belonging to the campaign group Republic staged an anti-monarchy protest inside Buckingham Palace at the weekend.

The protesters lined up and opened their jackets to reveal the message “Not my King” spelt out on their T-shirts in Saturday’s action.

Pictures of the stunt have been seen more than a million times on the anti-monarchy campaign group’s Twitter page alone.

Posing as tourists, the activists entered the royal household in central London shortly after noon and took a picture on a landing of the palace’s grand staircase before being escorted out of the building by security.

Ticketed tours of its state rooms are available to the public for 10 weeks each summer.

Sharing the protest footage on social media, Republic said: “This is a fantastic moment for republicans nationwide, with a group of normal citizens standing up for democracy in the adopted home of the monarchy.”

The group’s chief executive Graham Smith said: “This is a first, an anti-monarchy protest inside Buckingham Palace — a fantastic statement of intent: citizens standing up in the home of the monarchy to declare their opposition to hereditary power.

“[King] Charles is not an untouchable monarch, he is not immune to criticism and doesn’t enjoy the deference that protected the monarchy while his mother was on the throne.

“Charles is not a unifying figure: he is a hypocrite on the environment, he has questions to answer about cash for honours and dodgy donations from Qataris and he is out of touch with the concerns of ordinary people struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.”

He said the group’s numbers are growing, with protests planned up and down the country, including for the state opening of Parliament on November 7.