Abbott in royal swipe at Keating

FORMER prime ministers Paul Keating and Tony Abbott have clashed over what Prince Charles may or may not think about Australia ditching the monarchy, on the eve of the Commonwealth Games.

Mr Keating claimed the heir to the British throne supported Australia becoming a republic and would welcome not having to “pretend” to be the country’s head of state.

But the former Labor leader’s comments angered Liberal Mr Abbott.

“Prince Charles would just want to do his duty and he shouldn’t be verballed by an ex-PM,” the former Liberal prime minister and now rightwing backbencher posted on Twitter.

Another senior right-wing Liberal, Eric Abetz, also rounded on Mr Keating, accusing him of mounting “self-serving and egotistical” arguments for a republic.

“Mr Keating’s musings clearly have no basis in fact and are just a sad feature of the latest Republican push,” the Tasmanian senator said.

Mr Keating advocated for a republic when he led the country and used an opinion piece in London’s The Sunday Times to again make that argument.

He said he had no doubt that Prince Charles believed Australia “should be free of the British monarchy”.

“Why would he or anyone of his family want to visit Australia pretending to be, or representing its aspirations as, its head of state?” he asked. He praised Prince Charles and said he’d always be welcome in Australia but added: “The pretence of representing this country and all that it stands for is something he and we could well do without.”

Australian Republic Movement chair Peter FitzSimons said it would be great if Prince Charles would use his Australian tour to formally support a republic.

PRINCE CHARLES WOULD JUST WANT TO DO HIS DUTY AND HE SHOULDN’T BE VERBALLED BY AN EX-PM

“We have heard that (he supports it) for many years and we don’t doubt it’s true,” he said. “It’d be wonderful if he’d come out and say that outright, not that we have an actual expectation of that.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, a former chair of the Republic Advisory Committee before an unsuccessful 1999 referendum, has previously said that the issue of a republic is unlikely to be publicly debated during the reign of Queen Elizabeth.

Publicly, both Prince Charles and the Queen have stressed it’s up to Australians to decide whether to follow the republic path.