Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has revealed that he believes King Charles could renounce his claim on Australia.
Speaking to historian Professor James Curran during a public lecture at LaTrobe University on Wednesday, the former Labor leader said he spoke with Queen Elizabeth II about his ambition for the country to become a republic during a private exchange in Balmoral in 1993.
He said he told the Queen he would "not involve her family" in his work to remove the royal as head of state.
In 1999, Australians rejected a referendum that would have paved the way for the country to become a republic.
However, Mr Keating speculated that the royals would have preferred a different result.
"I think the royal family would have been so glad for the referendum to have passed, to be honest," he said.
Mr Keating went on to predict that King Charles III will denounce the UK's claim in Australia.
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if King Charles III, the king of Australia, volunteers to renounce his claim on Australia," he said.
A staunch supporter of an Australian republic, Mr Keating said that following the Queen's death he turned down an offer from the Australian Republic Movement to take up his advocacy once more.
"Why would you? We fluffed it," Mr Keating said on Wednesday.
"If Australians have so little pride in themselves, so little pride that they are happy to be represented by the monarch of Great Britain, why would somebody like me want to shift their miserable view of themselves?"
Despite his reluctance to re-enter republic advocacy, Mr Keating said that the choice to break off from the British Empire was so obvious it, "barely needs an argument".
"Who in their right mind could believe that the monarch of Great Britain has our best aspirations here?" Mr Keating said.
"We occupy one of the oldest land masses, the oldest continents on Earth, perhaps the oldest societies on Earth – it's so pathetic. It barely needs an argument.
"And there was [Scott] Morrison running off to Cornwall with that other fruitcake, what's his name, Boris Johnson."
Mr Keating went on to touch on the apathy that remains within Australia over disbanding from the British monarchy.
"Look at the French. The French had a revolution for their republic. The Americans had a revolution for their republic. We couldn't even pinch ours off Queen Elizabeth II – who didn't want it. We couldn't take the title, even if the monarch was happy to give it," he said.
"I think Australia has a very poor idea of itself. It doesn't know what it is and what it should be. Yet the inheritance the gift of the continent is such a great gift."
Mr Keating concluded his thoughts on the matter by saying, "Charles III, king of Australia, is a constitutional aberration. That's what it is."
