The royal family have been making headlines this week as they kick off several days’ worth of celebrations for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years on the throne.
WATCH: The Royals appear on the balcony at The Queen’s Birthday Parade
Even here in Australia, the excitement is obvious across social media, TV and radio, with plenty of coverage as Kate Middleton, Prince William and other key royals step out.
But all the fuss has some Aussies wondering why we care so much about a bunch of posh royals who live thousands of kilometres away.
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Despite being so far removed from day-to-day Australian life, the royal family still have plenty of fans Down Under.
A poll conducted on the WHO Instagram (which you should totally be following) showed that a whopping 47 per cent of our followers were excited for the jubilee.
Almost half of the responders planned to tune into the events over the weekend, while 34 per cent weren’t interested and 19 per cent didn’t care either way.
With so many Aussies still interested in the royal family, as the Queen marks 70 years on the throne, it begs the question: what will happen when she’s gone?
There have been talks of Australia becoming a republic for decades now and local commentators have been raising the question again as the Platinum Jubilee unfolds.
While it’s clear plenty of us still enjoy the royals to some degree, the problem lies with the Queen’s replacement, Prince Charles, who hasn’t always been the most popular figure in the monarchy.
A vocal 60 per cent of WHO’s Instagram followers don’t want Prince Charles to become the next king, with 24 per cent saying they don’t care and just 15 per cent actually supporting him.
There have been calls for Charles to skip his turn on the throne and pass the crown to his more popular son, Prince William, but royal experts say there’s a slim chance of that happening.
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Instead, we’ll get King Charles when the Queen is gone, but will that push Australia to finally break away from the monarchy?
WHO readers were divided on this one, with 48 per cent saying they think the nation will become a republic when Charles becomes king, while 41 per cent said it won’t happen.
Australia has seriously considered becoming a republic once before in 1999, when a nation-wide referendum saw Aussies vote on the issue.
The big-ticket question asked whether Australia should become a republic with a President appointed by Parliament and a whopping 45 per cent of Aussies said yes.
But the no votes won out with 54 per cent and Australia decided not to become a republic… yet.
We may still see the nation break away from the British monarchy in the coming years, following other countries like Barbados, which removed the Queen as its head of state in 2021.
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