‘Why We Still Love the Windsors

‘Why We Still Love the Windsors' by Jane Connors in the Weekend Australian 21-22 is a sad lament by a Republican who appears to know our Australian Monarchy is not going to collapse soon, and even recognises the inevitable succession of the Prince of Wales, but still keeps this endlessly failing initiative alive, to divide our nation and prevent the rest of us from fully enjoying our Monarchy.

She quotes Miles Franklin, an expatriate like Germaine Greer who pops back here from living elsewhere to tell us how we should be.  She is ‘confounded and annoyed’ like the ‘radicals of the 1890s’ who ‘did not consider it possible to sensibly reconcile the independent spirit driving Australian Federation with the fawning servility of the colonial past.’

So, if as M Connors says, the Australian Crown endures despite everything, why can she not just accept it and learn to live with it and enjoy it.  She suggests the reasons are patriotism, race and our distances, and adds the ‘images endlessly reproduced’ that enforce ‘the appeal of pageantry, celebrity, glamour and fun’. 

While she mentions ‘continuity’ she totally ignores the principle reasons for retaining the Crown: Constitutional stabililty and not risking something that works, and ensuring that Absolute Power, represented by the ghostly ‘reserve powers’ can never ‘corrupt absolutely, or removing checks and balances from the already powerful politicians.

 In true Republican fashion, the on-line version that is the link above has the headline:  'Why Australia still loves the British royal family' because they choke on calling Her Majesty our Australian Queen.