Professor Jenny Hocking, political historian and former elected member of ARM National Council, describes the southern hemisphere impact of the publication of Prince Harry’s “Spare”. She writes, “This now openly feuding family provides our head of state, imposed on us and 14 other Commonwealth nations by a dynastic succession and inherited title alone, in which we have no say and no relevance. It inevitably reignites questions about why Australia is still a constitutional monarchy….It is a national humiliation to accept an imposed head of state from among this thoroughly unpleasant, cosseted, entitled family. An Australian republic is long overdue.” In conclusion, she assesses that the British royals reluctance to embrace Meghan Markle was an opportunity lost and that the monarchy may rue the day it failed to “recognise a rare opportunity for it to evolve, to embrace the contemporary reality of the post-imperial Commonwealth, even to genuinely modernise other than changing a few lines in the coronation ceremony, and by doing so survive. She concludes, “This unedifying display of royal family discord will only hasten Australia’s move towards a republic with our own choice of head of state, no longer determined by the dynastic succession of the British monarch. Surely one of us can be better than one of them”. Her commentary was referenced in several other pieces published in the weeks following. Read Jenny’s article on the link below. [“When family and firm collide; escaping a royal horror story” by Jenny Hocking, Pearls and Irritations online, 13 January 2023]
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
