THE ‘King of Hay’ is to be “executed” this weekend after rebels declared the independent kingdom he created some 30 years ago a new ‘commonwealth’.

Castle owner Richard Booth – credited with creating the book town concept with Hay as his blueprint – will be marched through the town on Sunday at 1pm. ‘First Minister’ Paul Harris and fellow subjects, who found Mr Booth guilty of ‘dereliction and treason’ regarding the furtherance of the concept locally in a mock court hearing in April, will lead the way.

Mr Booth went on to create book towns all over the world after Hay became the first in the 1970s – partly through publicity stunts which included crowning himself King of Hay on April Fool’s Day in 1977 and making his horse the prime minister.

Sunday’s execution stunt follows claims that the attention needed to sustain businesses is no longer there and speculation that more now visit its world-famous literary festival than the town itself.