Australia and the Monarchy

Publisher's description:
Australia and the British monarchy have always made for an odd couple: the young, rebellious, egalitarian nation wed to the ancient symbol of power and social inequality. How have the royals come to be as popular now as they ever were? David Hill tells the story of this relationship from the beginning.

Since Captain James Cook first claimed New South Wales for King George III in 1770, the pulse of the nation can be measured by the strength of its attachment to an aristocratic bloodline on the other side of the world. Queen Victoria was more revered in Australia the longer she reigned, even though she’d never seen the place and showed little interest in it. When her son Prince Alfred visited in 1867, on the first royal tour the country had seen, he was received rapturously, and nearly assassinated. In 1954 Australia was gripped by royal fever when newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II landed on its shores for the first time; the republican movement grew in the late twentieth century alongside Australians’ adoration for Princess Diana; and now, with the popularity of William, Kate, George and Charlotte, the monarchy looks set to enter the hearts and minds of a new generation of Australians.

Author: David Hill

Publisher: Random House Australia

Format: Paperback

Pages: 480

Published: 1 October 2015

ISBN 9780857987549