The man who would be king of Australia: our Royal Editor hails the success of Prince Charles's tour down under

As Prince Charles flies home from Australia, a poll shows that support for the monarchy Down Under is at an 18-year high. Royal Editor Robert Jobson, who travelled with the prince throughout his seven-day tour, reflects on its success and the prospect of Charles becoming monarch there
The Prince of Wales lays a wreath at the Cenotaph in Darwin, Australia
PA
Robert Jobson10 April 2018

The Prince of Wales’s popularity in Australia has, like the institution of monarchy itself, seen highs and lows over the decades. And Australians, perhaps unfairly, have always seemed rather more ambivalent to their heir to the throne than to the younger generation of royals.

His two sons, William and Harry and daughter-in-law, Kate, have in recent years received rapturous receptions and when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge brought his little grandson, Prince George, to Australia in 2014 he was dubbed the “Republican Slayer”.

But after his 16th visit and after half a century of coming here the tide seems at last to be turning for Charles.

A poll reveals today that opposition to a republic in Australia has risen to its highest level since 1999.

Some 41 per cent said they would be against scrapping the monarchy and becoming a republic, according to the survey for The Australian newspaper. This compares with 34 per cent 19 years ago and 38 per cent in August 2017.

The special Newspoll survey reveals 50 per cent of voters would back Australia becoming a republic, with nine per cent uncommitted.

Prince Charles receives a traditional welcome in Australia

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But although the prince pays little attention to polls, the people appear to be warming to him.

The crowds on this visit, which has taken him from Brisbane and the Gold Coast onto the Great Barrier Reef and up north to Cairns, Gove and Darwin, as well as the Pacific islands of Vanuatu, have been large, enthusiastic and welcoming.

Camilla too proved popular too. Her decision to kick off her shoes and take a paddle in the Gold Coast ocean made the news. The media seemed to like her attitude, as they did when Charles, for once, took off his tie to watch the Commonwealth Games basketball in Cairns.

But before he set foot in Australia, former Prime Minister Paul Keating ambushed the visit by telling the press that Prince Charles would be happy if the country became a republic.

He was of course twisting the facts to suit his own agenda. It was hardly likely the constitutional heir to the throne would say anything unconstitutional.

Charles’s position on the matter, like that of Her Majesty the Queen, has always been consistent. The palace line has always been it will be for the Australian people to decide, as both Charles and the Queen have made clear in public speeches.

Now 69, the Prince is passionate about Australia and its people. Before leaving he declared today: “I love Australia and Australians and I love coming here. I was really touched by the welcome from the crowds both here and in Vanuatu.”

The prospect of Charles taking over as monarch delivered only a minor boost for the republican movement. If Charles ascends to the throne, 55 per cent of Australians said they would support a republic. A hard-core 35 per cent would want him as King with 10 per cent uncommitted.

He has used this visit to strengthen his charitable associations, donating thousands of pounds of his own cash to buy several defibrillators for use by the Royal Flying Doctors. He is patron of an association in the UK that raises cash for this vital service.

He cares deeply about the indigenous people too and their traditions and customs. On this visit he made a special visit the “furthest north he has ever been” to meet aboriginal clans. Attitudes on the monarchy in Australia are, on the whole, becoming more considered. After all the real power still lies with the elected government and the Prime Minister and his Cabinet.

Even the sitting Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a former chairman of the Australian Republican Movement, declared himself an “Elizabethan”, saying there was no urgency for a referendum while Her Majesty reigns.

In 1999, the same Mr Turnbull declared that the monarchist prime minister of the time, John Howard, “broke this nation’s heart” by sticking with the Windsors during a referendum on whether to keep the monarchy.

Julie Bishop, Australia’s long-serving foreign minister and deputy leader of the Liberal Party, doubts there is any rush for a republic or that the republican opposition leader Bill Shorten would make the issue a priority if he became prime minister. “Bill says a lot of things,” she said.

Poll after poll, since the marriage of William to Kate and the arrival of their photogenic progeny, have reinforced a near two-decade nadir in republican sentiment in Australian.

Prince Harry, who had a stint in the Australian army, is hugely popular Down Under and will be back in Sydney in October for the Invictus Games with new bride Meghan Markle.

Again Harry and Meghan will help cement ties with this key Commonwealth realm.

It remains to be seen if Charles, as Australia’s king-in-waiting, can cultivate this country’s sentiment in a way that the younger royals seemed to have.

But his passion for Australia is genuine as is his determination to serve.

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