Australian republicans yesterday seized on Prince Charles' engagement to Camilla Parker Bowles as a chance to revive the debate over whether Australia should cut its ties with the British Crown.
'The announcement out of Clarence House in London ... turns the focus of the Australian people squarely on Prince Charles who will, unless we become a republic, become Australia's next king, Charles III,' said John Warhurst, chairman of the Australian Republican Movement.
Prince Charles, 56, is due to visit Australia for five days at the end of the month. But the fact that it would be his first trip in 11 years emphasised the absurdity and irrelevancy of the monarchy to most Australians, Mr Warhurst said, as did the fact that he would be travelling without his future wife.
'He's not one of us. He's a foreigner and he hasn't been here for 10 or 11 years,' he said.
A survey last month showed that only 46 per cent of Australians favoured a republic, the lowest level of support since the idea was last put to the test during a referendum in 1999.
Mrs Parker Bowles will become the duchess of Cornwall and the princess consort rather than queen of Australia and the other 14 Commonwealth countries of which Prince Charles, as king, would be head of state.
