I am happy with my Queen

I have of course been enthralled by the celebrations for my Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and did in fact watch quite a bit of it – on the basis that there is not much else to do here at the moment with Cate being away.

When she is here I am kept pretty busy with chores and the getting of meals and coffee and such like stuff. So when she is not here I tend to sit and read or watch Golf – which she hates.

However – I found the Jubilee celebrations fascinating. There is clearly no mood in Britain for a Republic and they dressed up and turned out in droves to celebrate the occasion. Which of course is appropriate – what is the point of having a Queen unless you can dress up and wave flags at her every now and then.

There was – of course – an immense amount of grovelling and curtseying. I would expect the same had I been born into the Windsor family.

There is a strong Republican movement in Australia – and indeed there were some who thought the current Labor government would move towards that.

The majority of Australians want a republic – we voted on it some years ago – but the then Prime Minister – the villainous John Howard – outmanoeuvred the Republicans – who could not decide between a President elected by Parliament or a President elected by the people.

In the latter case it would be the latest winner of Australian Idol and in the former case we could end up with a failed politician. 

I am perfectly happy with my Queen. Sure we don’t have much contact – but she is perfectly harmless – has no real power – and draws tourists to London like bees to a honeypot. And – since she started paying taxes – costs the Brits almost nothing.

She rarely visits Australia and I have only seen her once in the flesh. This was on 5 March, 1954 when she visited Victoria and I was taken on a train - with many other school children - to Echuca where we awaited patiently – waving flags – until she and the Duke drove past.

But that was enough.

I am content to know that she is there and spends every waking moment on the job - thinking of the welfare of her subjects.

What more could one ask of a Monarch.