The liberal press and their Republican mentors had predicted a low turnout for Queen Elizabeth’s recent visit down under. They were wrong. The roots of royal heritage still run deep in this island continent.
As it turned out, the queen was given an overwhelmingly friendly welcome by both Republican sympathizers and monarchists alike on this, her 13th visit to Australia. As the Week magazine recently reported, leading Republicans praised Queen Elizabeth for her 48 years as their head of state. They reinforced this message with an assurance that any move to abandon the monarchy by Australians implied no personal criticism.
This queen has simply won the hearts of rambunctious Australians with her evident and tireless devotion to duty. Prince Philip’s occasional roguishness endears him to independent-spirited Aussies, and Prince Charles’ secondary school stint in Victoria in his youth served to further bind the ties between this southern member of the British Commonwealth and Britain’s royal family.
Stepping diplomatically between the Republican and monarchist debates in Australia, the queen “recalled her links with the country over the past half century, but added: ‘We must look forward as well as back. Australia has always been a country on the move and will go on being so—it is not for nothing that the anthem is ‘Advance Australia Fair’…. Whatever the future may bring, my lasting respect and deep affection for Australia and Australians everywhere will remain as strong as ever. That is what I have come here to say” (Independent, March 21).
Stating her belief that it was for the Australian people alone to decide their future, she added, “I respect and accept the outcome of the referendum,” thus indicating that the narrow margin by which the monarchist vote edged out the Republican vote during Australia’s 1999 referendum on the issue of whether or not to dispense with her services had been duly noted by her. This, she indicated, could well mean that Australia may dispense with her services as head of state within the current decade.
If her recent friendly welcome is anything to judge by, whether or not the liberal-socialist push to eliminate the proud British heritage from the consciousness of Australians succeeds, it appears that the queen will still be welcomed in that country as a true friend.