WfaAR sends a letter to the Prime Minister bringing to his attention the noticeably increased use of the words “Majesty”, “Majesties” and “Royal Highnesses” on his watch slavishly following the example of recently departed British Prime Minister, Boris Johnston, who frequently slavered over the formal titles of his Queen and King while dropping his head. We also make several proposals to increase transparency about the relationship between the nine Australian governments and their constitutional monarch. Apart from dropping the term “Majesty”, we suggest that Charles is always referred to as Australia’s Head of State by developing revised, Australian expressions for formal dealings with its King (not G’day Mate exactly but more modern and professional rather than deferential expressions); revealing the consolidated cost of the 2024 royal visit including security expenses and the value of all gifts given to the King and Queen during their forthcoming visit as well as those given in return – now that would be of interest! – and suggesting that all the processes leading to the Prime Minister’s recommendation to the Head of State before announcing the King’s approval of the PM’s choice for the Governor-General job be made public at the time of the announcement.
It took a very long time to get a response to this letter ie three months and it was eventually signed off by an Acting Assistant Secretary at PM&C. While no specific responses or commentary were provided on any of the matters raised and suggestions made, we were referred to a copy of the revised Letters Patent signed off on the cover by QEII in 2008 and to the Style Manual (the good old public written sources defence), amazing.
