Young people with no traditional reason to hold the Royal Family in good esteem are backing the monarchy – we’re told.
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Phillip Benwell, who might be a perfectly nice gentleman, was on Nick Rheinberger’s ABC Radio show this week saying his Australian Monarchist League (AML) attracts young people in droves.
Counterintuitive, perhaps. Wouldn’t Generation Y, frozen out of the housing market after spending all its money on smashed avocado, resent the entitlement of one family’s divine right to rule, to own all the big palaces? Or is Australia too far removed from Britain’s aristocracy for it to matter?
Is it Harry, the playboy prince you’d like to party with? Or Kate and Pippa’s standing with the paparazzi? Charles has always been a charmer, but has anyone checked in with Prince Phillip for his views on identity politics or same-sex marriage?
The AML’s site has had a mobile-friendly makeover and spruiks itself on Twitter, Instagram etc. They’ve got together some young-ish people for a photo, and the “media spokespersons” all look to be under 55.
Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, however, one-time leader of the Queen’s defence, may have been spared the youth rush. Its dinky website was not touched by any designer under 50; its “latest news” is a Queen’s birthday luncheon in 2015.
It’s clear there’s some brand positioning at play, so I’ll bet all the gin in Buckingham Palace we’ll hear this youth line plenty.
Today’s political leaders have been unable to capture Gen Y’s attention with the republic issue and that’s no surprise: few people young or old could describe what the I-support-a-republic-but-not-yet Turnbull position means, or why.
At any rate, with Malcolm the Middle slowing this issue to a crawl, today’s young voters could be old conservatives before another referendum comes around.
- Ben Langford, Mercury journalist.