Australians campaigning for a republic have been accused of milking the Harry and Meghan saga in the hope of severing ties with the Queen.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have stirred constitutional tensions in Australia by abruptly announcing they would be leaving the Royal Family to live as private citizens in Canada.
The Australian Republican Movement used the controversy to suggest the House of Windsor was no longer favoured by most Australians – even though opinion polls have suggested otherwise.
‘Harry and Meghan say they want to move on from the royals, and so does Australia, so today we offered them complimentary membership of the Australian Republican Movement,’ it tweeted
Australians campaigning for a republic have been accused of milking the Harry and Meghan saga in the hope of severing ties with the Queen. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (pictured at Sydney’s Bondi Beach) have stirred constitutional tensions in Australia by abruptly announcing they would be leaving the Royal Family to live as private citizens in Canada
‘Unfortunately, we haven’t heard back from them yet… (we won’t be holding our breath!).’
Media personality and former Wallabies player Peter FitzSimons, who chairs the Australian Republican Movement, retweeted a post from wife Lisa Wilkinson, a co-host of The Sunday Project.
She likened Prince Harry staying in the Royal Family to being like his uncle Prince Andrew, a disgraced family member with dubious ties to the late billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
‘Perhaps Prince Harry came to the simple conclusion that the brutal reality of being second-born in the royal family’s line of succession is, you can either make a break for it and do something you find valuable with your life, or you can be Prince Andrew,’ Ms Wilkinson said.
Professor David Flint, the national convener of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, argued the announcement from Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle would be unlikely to turn Australia into a republic.
‘They are always grasping at some silver bullet which they think will hand them their politicians’ republican,’ Professor Flint told Daily Mail Australia.
In November 2018, support for a republic fell to a 25-year low.
Media personality and former Wallabies player Peter FitzSimons, who chairs the Australian Republican Movement, retweeted a post from wife Lisa Wilkinson, a co-host of The Sunday Project
She likened Prince Harry staying in the Royal Family to being like his uncle Prince Andrew, a disgraced family member with dubious ties to the late billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein
The Newspoll survey of 1,802 voters, showed just 40 per cent of respondents backed removing the Queen as Australia’s constitutional head of state.
This occurred only a month after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had visited Australia.
Just six months before their visit, 50 per cent of Australians in a Newspoll backed a republic.
Professor Flint said it was a long stretch to even compare the announcement from Harry and Meghan with the abdication of King Edward in 1936.
Like Prince Harry, King Edward was married to an American divorcee, in his case Wallis Simpson.
‘I don’t see it as a crisis. I mean 1936 was a crisis when the King abdicated,’ Professor Flint said.
‘But this is nothing. I’ve seen analogies drawn with the abdication but that’s ridiculous.
Professor David Flint, the national convener of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, argued the announcement from Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle (pictured together with their son Archie) would be unlikely to turn Australia into a republic
The Australian Republican Movement used the controversy to suggest the House of Windsor was no longer favoured by most Australians – even though opinion polls have suggested otherwise
‘They are remaining loyal and supportive of the Queen, the Commonwealth and their large number of charities.’
Professor Flint argued the resignation of Harry and Meghan from the royal family was simply a sign the British monarchy would become slimmer, like its counterparts in Sweden and Denmark.
‘It looked as though it was heading that way,’ he said. ‘It is an evolution.’
These northern European monarchies, however, still have ten royals in the line of succession.
Prince Harry is sixth in line to the United Kingdom throne, behind his grandmother the Queen, his father Prince Charles, his elder brother Prince William and his children George, Charlotte and Louis.
Prince Harry (second left with wife Meghan) is sixth in line to the United Kingdom throne, behind his grandmother the Queen, his father Prince Charles, his elder brother Prince William (second right with wife Kate) and his children George, Charlotte and Louis
When given the chance to change the Constitution, Australians rejected a referendum proposal for a republic with the No case winning 55 per cent of the vote.
The model, for two-thirds of Parliament to approve the prime minister’s choice of an Australian president, did not win majority support in any state, with the Yes side only prevailing in the Australian Capital Territory.
Republicans who wanted Australia’s head of state to be directly elected campaigned for the No side, which was based on keeping the Queen as Australia’s head of state with the governor-general as her vice-regal representative.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison declared himself to be a constitutional monarchist in late 2018, several weeks after replacing Malcolm Turnbull, the leader of Australia’s republican movement ahead of the 1999 referendum.