The forthcoming visit of the next in line to the Australian throne reminds us of the farcical nature of our current constitutional arrangements. Senior correspondent Barry Everingham comments.
Such a romantic notion would not have crossed great Uncle David’s mind, as it has now been alleged that Mrs Simpson probably had all the confused plumbing of an hermaphrodite.
Along with the knowledge that the British abhor adultery, but go along with fornication, serial adulterers Charles and Camilla were both permitted to marry, with Camilla allowed the full status of Your Royal Highness ― but she was denied the official title of Princess of Wales, which she legally is, and was saddled with one of her second husband’s secondary titles, the Duchess of Cornwall, which she will retain until Charles becomes king, when she will be known as Queen Camilla.
The monarchists in general, and Cory Bernardi’s great and good friends Professor David Flint and Alan Jones’s in particular, go along with the canard that our Queen to be will be called something stupid like “Princess Consort”.
All this is fascinating stuff but should not be relevant to contemporary Australia.
This couple have no Australian roots – indeed the forthcoming visit will be Camilla’s first − and until our Constitution is dragged screaming into reality, it is people like Queen Elizabeth and her son and daughter-in-law who are preventing every Australian from aspiring to, or holding, our nation’s top job.