NZ still jewel in The Crown, for the foreseeable

Most of us quietly ignore the mumbo-jumbo about the Queen being chosen by God, as we prefer a benign, ineffective monarch with an amiable governorgeneral to a republican president who might wield real power.

One thing I love about commitment-free summer nights is the chance to binge-watch television. A recent highlight has been the Netflix show The Crown, a drama telling the story of the British royal family from the late 1940s to the 1960s.

Being an ardent republican I thought I would hate The Crown, but despite being a drama, it is based on fact. I’ve loved revisiting the world of Winston Churchill, the Suez Crisis and the Profumo Affair. And an unexpected effect has been to give me a newfound respect for our current monarch.

The line The Crown takes is that she would have preferred a quiet life. Nevertheless, when duty called, she stepped up and has done the job well ever since.

Seeing scenes of past royal tours reminded me of the incredible influence the monarchy once had here. My mother is named Elizabeth because on the day she was born, the Queen Mother, also an Elizabeth and then the Duchess of York, passed through Mum’s home town of Dannevirke with her husband.

My mother still remembers the day Edward VIII abdicated as it was the first time she’d seen a newspaper headline stretch over two pages. With Dad being called Philip and Mum being called Elizabeth, our home was jokingly called Clarence House by their friends.

But how do we regard the monarchy today? In ‘moral’ matters the Windsors have done their best to catch up. King Edward VIII abdicated because he couldn’t marry a divorced woman, yet the partners of both Prince Charles and Prince Harry are divorced and it hardly raises an eyebrow.

Yet the fabulously rich monarchy and the church it heads still seem greatly out of touch on many issues. It was sad seeing the Queen having to talk up the invasions of Iraq. And what crisis will the royal family create for themselves when we have the first openly gay monarch?

Because the monarchy largely stays out of our political affairs, there is little mood here for a republic. Most of us quietly ignore the mumbo-jumbo about the Queen being chosen by God, as we prefer a benign, ineffective monarch with an amiable governor-general to a republican president who might wield real power. The elections of Presidents Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan have hardly helped the republican cause.

Yet our Queen is no spring chicken. How will we feel about King Charles III and Camilla if Charles decides to take the gig when that day comes? Or will Will step up and allow his Dad a few years’ happy retirement? Could that be a good time for New Zealand to cut its apron strings?

Since Jim Bolger bravely suggested New Zealand become a republic back in the 1990s, New Zealand’s prime ministers have all quietly pronounced that one day New Zealand will become a republic. At the same time they have done absolutely nothing to bring one about.

Jacinda Ardern recently spent five days at Waitangi Day improving her Government’s relationship with Ma¯ ori, and she passed with flying colours. Meanwhile, the reaction to her pregnancy has been bigger here than Princess Diana’s 1981 pregnancy announcement. Who needs royal babies to cluck over when we have hipster royalty of our own?

Is it likely that our progressive prime minister will see the ridiculousness of our being constitutionally attached to a monarchy on the other side of the world and start amicable separation proceedings? Could Jacinda prove to be an Ardernt republican? I’m not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, Australia has a large republican movement supported by the leaders of both political parties, and has already had one (unsuccessful) referendum. Progressives here may look distastefully at the way our mates across the ditch treat refugees and indigenous people, and be amused by how long it took them to embrace gay marriage.

Nevertheless, I suspect we will see an Australian republic long before our quaint, old-fashioned, English-obsessed dominion sees sense and decides to become the Republic of Aotearoa.