The best countries on earth are constitutional monarchies: Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, says the well known author , speech writer and journalist, Bob Ellis, whom I suspect may have been a republican.
My long held view, too , and one easily demonstrable on the facts.
In a piece on The ABC’s The Drum Opinion, “ After the King spoke: a reason for royal leaders” (16/5) he refers to the influenc eof the film The King's Speech and says this of the Royal Wedding:
“Those who watched the Royal Wedding were struck, like me, by the intellectual force of the occasion. Great music, chosen by the Prince, great words from the burnt martyr Cranmer, adequate, modest advice from the sonorous agnostic Rowan Williams, a man who has read a book or two and thought a bit about life’s meaning.”
The left were once staunch constitutional monarchists – Curtin, Chifley Evatt. Real Labor men.
This is a powerful argument, and well worth reading.