Each year the shriveled remains of what was once the British Empire decay further. As of writing King Charles reigns as monarch in 15 former colonial territories, including the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, and Australia. In each of these countries there are movements to remove the British monarchy from its constitutional role, arguing that they are a colonial hangover that must be extinguished.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, 17 countries ditched the British monarchy and there are ongoing campaigns in the remaining 15 to follow them. One of the loudest is in Australia, where the Australian Republican Movement (note that this has no connection to the U.S. Republican party) has been encouraging the country to stand alone without the British monarchy since 1991.
Next week King Charles and Queen Camilla will officially visit Australia, which will inevitably crank up the volume as the country debates whether they need a British king in the 21st century. As such, ARM has written to Buckingham Palace requesting a meeting with the King to discuss Australia’s future.
Perhaps surprisingly, Charles was happy to hear from them. His assistant private secretary has commended ARM’s “thoughtfulness” at the letter and indicates that Charles “warmly appreciated” it. That said, it doesn’t seem clear that Charles will meet with the people campaigning to give him the boot from down under and repeatedly underlined his love for all things Antipodean.
As per the Daily Mail, Charles’s office responded to the letter in these terms: “Please be assured that your views on this matter have been noted very carefully. His Majesty, as a constitutional monarch, acts on the advice of his ministers and whether Australia becomes a republic is, therefore, a matter for the Australian public to decide.”
To some, it may sound odd that Charles is ready and willing to give up being the King of Australia, but he doesn’t have much of a choice but to play nice. Australia last conducted a referendum on keeping the British monarchy in 1999, with 54.87% voting to keep them. That’s a firm but not decisive win for the monarchists, but 25 years on we suspect it’d be a much closer race.
ARM may know they’re onto a winner and are playing it smartly and carefully. Despite being philosophically opposed to everything the Windsors represent they diplomatically praise the “important contribution” of the Royal Family and say if they did succeed in deposing them the U.K. and Australia would remain “the closest of friends and allies.”
Sadly, whatever the will of the Australian people, it seems they’re not going to get a say anytime soon. The Australian government was quizzed on a new referendum in January and said it’s “not a priority.” But the wheels of history grind slowly and surely it’s a matter of when, not if, Charles and descendants stand aside and let Australia stand on its own two feet. And who knows, maybe one day the same will finally happen in the U.K. and we can be rid of this ridiculous feudal pageant for good.
