Senator Andrew Bartlett
Friday, March 04, 2005
 
Government chucks Charles
I read on the ABC site that Prince Charles is in Canberra tonight, apparently for a ‘State dinner’. The news item says the dinner is at Government House, the residence of the Governor-General, who is also hosting the function. This is a fairly small venue. The Prince is also ‘attending several engagements’ in Canberra tomorrow, as well as holding ‘formal talks with the Prime Minister’.

I received an invitation the other day to attend an evening event next week with Princess Mary in the Great Hall of Parliament House. This is a huge (and very impressive) venue which can fit hundreds of people. I imagine all federal politicians got the same invite. It doesn't bother me that I didn't get an invite to any of Prince Charles' functions in Canberra, but it does strike me as a bit strange when I did get one to see Princess Mary.

There may be some protocol thing I'm unaware of (protocol not being my forte), but it seems very odd that our devoutly Monarchist Prime Minister would be hiding the future King away when he visits Canberra and most MPs don’t get a chance to hear or meet him, while many MPs (and presumably many other people) get invited to attend a function in the heart of Parliament House for a Danish Princess (even if she was born an Australian) whose only political connection with us is that she seems to be on the cover of every women’s magazine and newspaper in the country.

After all, Charles is most probably going to be King of Australia one day and it would make sense for him to get a chance to address and meet with federal MPs. According to the ABC, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition are at his ‘State dinner’, along with the Chief Justice, the Defence Force Chief and the British High Commissioner. I don’t know if any other politicians got invited, (although I know the Democrats’ Parliamentary Leader, Lyn Allison, didn’t).

I should emphasise that I don’t feel personally miffed, and I don’t have any burning desire to meet either of them, although if I had to pick one I’d go for Charles. Mind you, I don’t have anything against Princess Mary. I quite liked her Tasmanian father when I saw him on TV once. She seems quite nice, looks very beautiful in photographs and I wish her good luck and all that – although the media frenzy about her does leave me cold.

As some readers would know, I’m a republican. I believe it would be of benefit to our nation’s future if we cut our connections with the monarchy, and that’s why I’ve been a member of the Australian Republican Movement for some years and I’d encourage others to join and make it a more effective grassroots movement. However, I’ve never seen the benefit or value in making public fun of Prince Charles or other royals. All things considered, Prince Charles seems OK to me. At least he’s shown an interest in some aspects of environmentalism and more holistic health care, and I wouldn’t wish the poor guy’s (not-so) private life on anyone.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Friday, March 04, 2005 Permalink
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