Quentin Bryce must work to derail the republican movement

The privilege inherent in any aristocracy is at odds with Australian values.

Every system sets up people in privileged positions - with or without hereditary titles. For example; last year the top 20 executives in Macquarie Bank picked up $209 million between them.

A lot of people like the idea of having a royal connection. After all how else can it be explained that Tasmania views its greatest gift to the world as being the next Queen of Denmark? Having commemorative cups in the house with portraits of the monarch on them once gave a lot of ordinary people pleasure.

The euphoria of the Sydney Olympics was exceeded by the euphoria of the 1954 royal tour. I doubt that any nation has ever felt any better in the history of the world. You may think that we must have been a lot of hicks in the 1950s, but for the two months “our beautiful young Queen” was here, we felt that an angel was walking among us.

Psychologists know that almost every individual has a desire to put certain people up on pedestals, and that our sense of order and well-being is enhanced when we do this. The Queen has the potential to fill this role. The gradual removal of the Queen's portrait from public buildings has left us with a diminished sense of security which can be recognised by those who remember pre-1970 Australia.

Old Australians can also remember a wholesome Women's Weekly which would have been struggling without the lives of royalty to adoringly report on. Then the media which once nourished our fantasies, gradually set about to bring us down to Earth by digging for any bit of gossip it could get. But, it did not get completely out of the fantasy business - there was Diana.

King Charles lll will be unacceptable even as a nominal head of state for Australia.

If Charles was to be crowned tomorrow, he would be the oldest person to be crowned in English or Scottish history. That would be one more public relations hurdle to jump to add to those others which have already put in front of him.

If the Queen had abdicated after 30 years on the throne (in 1983) Charles would have been immune to media scrutiny from then on. But, by hanging on for as long as she was living, she has left him vulnerable. It is unlikely he has any chance of being accepted by the British people.

The media built Diana into a goddess after her marriage failure, while building a negative image of Charles.

If Charles has been shelved, then the British parliament must have its eyes on someone. That someone is a young man described by a women’s magazine as “drop-dead gorgeous”. While Harry’s behaviour is being scrutinised by the media, there seems to be a hands-off policy with William - as if in anticipation of something big coming up.

There would be few Australians sympathetic to the republican cause if it was not for what the tabloid press has done to the institution of monarchy by its ruthless focus on the failings of its very human components.