View from Britain: Elizabethan holiday

Nick Bryant | 8 June 2008

Australia will enjoy a national holiday today in honour of the Queen's official birthday. To some Australian monarchists, it's occasion to raise a glass to a much-loved head of state. To many more, it's the happy chance to take a quick winter break, hopefully avoiding the inflated "double demerit" speeding fines and points penalties which come into effect on three-day holiday weekends.

Next week at Parliament House in Sydney, the Australia-Britain Society will hold a luncheon at which members will sing God Save the Queen, Australia's Royal anthem and take part in a loyal toast. At the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Collingwood will take on Melbourne in the traditional Queen's Day birthday AFL face-off. But the day is marked with little, if any, pomp and circumstance. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I can't find any evidence of gun salutes, parades or fireworks - and nor can the monarchists I've been speaking to.

How much longer Australia will continue to officially celebrate the Queen's birthday is one of the most intriguing questions facing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and, ultimately of course, the Australian people.

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