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Australia's future monarchy: a view from the Republic of France

By Alan Austin - posted Monday, 4 June 2012


Let's face it. The Danes are fair dinkum. The Haise of Glücksburg showed this when securing the last regal spouse. None of this inter-marriage with other royals, or morning teas in the manors of Berkshire and Dummer, Hampshire. They sent young Frederik to cruise the bars of Kings Cross.

Practical issues are easily resolved. Just replace the Union Jack with the red and white Danish cross on the Aussie flag. Same basic colours. Then persuade the regime to reinstate a gaudy ceremonial "changing of the vagtpost" at the Marselisborg Palace for Australian package tourists.

The only real problem is that constitutionally the Danish monarch retains over governments "the right to be consulted, the right to advise and the right to warn". This could be an issue Downunder as these rights are currently held by Alan Jones and The Australian.

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The clinching argument, of course, that Denmark and Australia are destined to unite is in their national anthems. The Danish one is titled There Is a Lovely Land and translates thus:

There is a lovely land, that proudly spreads her beeches
Beside the Baltic strand
A land that curves in hill and dale
That men have named Old Denmark
And this is Freya's hall, and this is Freya's hall.


Now, does that evoke the same soaring aspirations as Advance Australia Fair or what? It ends:

And still that land is fair, so blue the seas that belt her
So green the woodland there
And noble women, comely girls
And men and lads of mettle
Dwell in the Danish isles.

I rest my case.

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About the Author

Alan Austin is an Australian freelance journalist currently based in Nîmes in the South of France. His special interests are overseas development, Indigenous affairs and the interface between the religious communities and secular government. As a freelance writer, Alan has worked for many media outlets over the years and been published in most Australian newspapers. He worked for eight years with ABC Radio and Television’s religious broadcasts unit and seven years with World Vision. His most recent part-time appointment was with the Uniting Church magazine Crosslight.

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