What a miserable old mongrel I would be if I failed to congratulate loyal folk in the UK and in my own Australia on this august event. Charles III is after all monarch and head of state not only of Britain but also of Australia. The latter may be a polity he has no authority to speak for, since he must speak for the British government, whose interests do not coincide with Australia’s. But that’s not his fault, it’s the fault of our own constitution devised in 1900 when our interests seemed to coincide, when we even hoped they coincided, with Westminster’s.
I’m going to watch it, the event, if I can, on telly. The presence of Prince Harry will render a layer of Succession-style possibility to The Crown, and we know that even if Harry does nothing, the shock-jock we carry in our brains will lead us to interpret every brow-knotting and frown and questioning look as dynastically significant.
