Make no question about it, the Americans are jealous of the Brits, especially where the Royal family is concerned. We see this in their fascination and popularity of TV shows like The Crown.
British Actor Matt Smith who played the young Prince Philip in seasons one and two, said he was surprised by the fascination the royals inspire in America.
Sandro Monetti, a British Journalist living in Los Angeles believes the Americans love the Royal family more than the British people do.
While US President Barack Obama said, in 2015 while Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visited the White House, that, “The American people are quite fond of the royal family, they like them much better than their own politicians.”
Of course, there is the draw of the pageantry, the centuries old traditions, this is unlike anything the US has.
The closest thing the US has to royalty is the Kennedy’s but given their affiliation with the Democrat party their fanfare is divided but the constitutional role of the British monarchs is to stay clear of politics which is why Australia should be so proud of our connection.
Isn’t it wonderful to have a Head of State that is beyond politics?
No matter how Presidential the President might be in a democratic system, you can’t hide the fact they are a political office.
Any president that is elected, automatically becomes a political office and given the nature of people, any president automatically divides half of the country.
Queen Elizabeth II is a figure that unites us all (except if you’re perhaps a republican); she is above politics, she does not belong to any political party and makes a point of staying out of politics. She has made a vow to serve until the day she dies, and anyone that follows in her bloodline is born into a family where you serve the nation, not to make yourself any more powerful but to promote causes that raise awareness and favourable coverage, often to not-for-profit charities, while uniting and serving the nation through difficult times. I think of all these charities the royals are patron of, which is hundreds including military associations, professional bodies which allows many wonderful charities to get much favourable coverage to see how wonderful it is to have a Royal family that supports so many of these charities.
That is beyond something any politician can hope to achieve.
Plus, the Royal Family is highly visible, which means given the close ties Australia and the UK share as being part of the constitutional monarchy, their family is our family, their triumphs are our triumphs, and we share in their highs and lows which we see in Royal Weddings and Royal funerals.
We should be proud of this, why fight this?
It’s quite obvious that if the Americans had their time again they would choose the system of Government we have in Australia.
We are an independent nation where our Government is held in check by the parliament, the courts and the monarch who is represented by the Governor General.
The Governor General can only act in accordance with the power vested in them by the constitution which can only be acted under the advice of the parliament. They are separate from the parliament.
The Governor General is the representative of the monarch which maintains an almost perfect system where our political leaders are held in check by the legal branch, the parliament and a monarchy that has stood for thousands of years who keep in touch with an Australian Governor General who the Queen appoints under the advice of the Prime Minister.
It is as close to perfect as you can possibly get, we don’t need guns to protect us from tyranny, our military swears allegiance to the Commonwealth of Australia represented by the Governor General, a none political office. In the US their commander in chief is the President, a political office.
Although we share some similarities with the US system such as federalism, separation of powers, such as an executive branch, a judicial branch and a legislative branch, their head of state is a politician who is despised by one half of the country and has the keys to the military. This has far more flaws than I can see in our beautiful constitutional monarchy.
No doubt when Queen Elizabeth II inevitably passes, there will be a debate about whether Australia should leave the British Monarchy.
My response is, if it ain’t broke why fix it?
Ben Kruzins is the Campus Pastor of The Hub Baptist Church in Ocean Shores on the North Coast of New South Wales. He is also a Journalism graduate who has written articles in The Canberra Times and The Sydney Morning Herald.
