Royals caught off guard by rejection of republic

by Malcolm Brown
The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 January 2002

Australia's vote in 1999 against becoming a republic caught the monarchy by surprise and provoked Prince Philip to ask whether Australians knew "what's good for them", according to a new book released in Britain yesterday.

In the book, Royal - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 11 by Robert Lacey, which will be released in Australia next month, the prince is reported saying: "What's the matter with these people? Can't they see what's good for them?"

According to Lacey, the Queen responded: "Well, they couldn't agree on the model."

Lacey says: "Some British newspapers hailed the result as a 'victory' for Elizabeth II, but she did not see it that way. She understood that a majority of Australians wanted an entirely Australian-based arrangement, although they could not agree on its form, and her reaction to the vote was distinctly non triumphant."

The national director of the Australian Republican Movement, Terrie James, said: "My comment is that she has a better understanding of the issue than some of the monarchists.

"I think it is for Australians to work through to a satisfactory result that people can live with. But I think Day One [of a new campaign for a referendum] will be when John Howard steps down as Prime Minister. I don't think there will be another referendum for five years plus."

Lacey told the Herald yesterday it was important to distinguish between what Prince Philip thought and said and what the Queen thought and said, though naturally he would have an influence on her.

"The Prince was implying that he thought there was no doubt that Australia should become a republic," he said. "I don't think there is any deal about this sort of time-share monarchy that Australia has."

He said the Queen, "in her typically modest and cautious way", was not actually coming out and saying she thought Australia should become a republic. "But you might infer that from what she said."

The national convener of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, Professor David Flint, said remarks attributed to royal persons should not be accepted because they could be fabrications of second- or third-hand hearsay.

"Having said that, the Queen has made it very clear and she said it on her last visit that whether or not we become a republic is a matter for Australians."

It had transpired in the last referendum for a republic that the majority of people could not see what was wrong with the present system and were basically uninterested in changing.