Monday 14 March 2022

Commonwealth Day Message of Her Majesty The Queen, Head of the Commonwealth

On today's Commonwealth Day in Victoria H.E. The Governor of Victoria has published Her Majesty The Queen's Commonwealth Day message on her website:

Towards a common future

We all have reason to give thanks for the numerous ways in which our lives are enriched when we learn from others. Through exchanging ideas, and seeing life from other perspectives, we grow in understanding and work more collaboratively towards a common future. There is a very special value in the insights we gain through the Commonwealth connection; shared inheritances help us overcome difference so that diversity is a cause for celebration rather than division.

We shall see this in action at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which takes place in the United Kingdom next month, bringing together young people, business and civil society from across the Commonwealth.

These gatherings are themselves fine examples of how consensus and commitment can help to create a future that is fairer, more secure, more prosperous and sustainable. Having enjoyed the warm hospitality of so many Commonwealth countries over the years, I look forward to the pleasure of welcoming the leaders of our family of 53 nations to my homes in London and Windsor.


Sport also contributes to building peace and development. The excitement and positive potential of friendly rivalry will be on display next month as we enjoy the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia. Contributing to the success of the Games, alongside athletes and officials, will be thousands of volunteers.

Voluntary effort, by people working as individuals, in groups or through larger associations, is so often what shapes the Commonwealth and all our communities. By pledging to serve the common good in new ways, we can ensure that the Commonwealth continues to grow in scope and stature, to have an even greater impact on people's lives, today, and for future generations.

Elizabeth R.





Sunday 13 March 2022

The Australian Government launched the Official Platinum Jubilee Emblem

The Australian Government launched the country’s official Platinum Jubilee Emblem on Friday, 11th March 2022. It will be used for official and recognised events to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year-reign as Queen of Australia.


Three colours make up the Australian Platinum Jubilee Emblem – platinum, gold and purple. The platinum colour represents Her Majesty The Queen’s 70 years on the throne, whilst the purple colour is synonymous with royalty. The gold is drawn from Australia’s floral emblem, the golden wattle; and our national colours, green and gold.


The Queen and her Australian brooch

The emblem’s design is a stylised representation of the golden wattle spray brooch worn by Her Majesty on her previous visits to Australia. Australia gifted the brooch to The Queen during her first visit in 1954

The font – Perpetua, meaning ‘forever’ – acknowledges Her Majesty is the first Australian monarch ever to mark 70 years on the throne. It complements the elegance of the emblem.

The emblem may be used with permission by individuals, organisations, and charities for celebrations to mark Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022.

The emblem is authorised for use at:

# Official events and activities that are coordinated by government, including Commonwealth, state, territory or local government.


# Events that have been recognised by the Australian Government and listed on the Platinum Jubilee website.


# Appropriate event related and community souvenir items for official government and recognised events.


# The emblem will be available for use for official government and recognised events until the end of 2022.

Tuesday 26 January 2021

Australia Day 2021 comes with lowest republican sympathies since 1979

 

Support for Australia adopting a republican form of state has slipped, according to a poll published for Australia Day in The Age, which reveals only a third of Australians are in favour, 40 per cent were opposed to a republic. 

The polls show support for a republic has steadily ebbed since a peak in December 1999 – when 57 per cent of Australians were in favour – immediately after the failed 1999 republic referendum. The latest Ipsos poll found support for Australia becoming a republic was lowest among those in the 18-24 year old group, with only 26 per cent in favour compared to 34 per cent in all other age groups. 

Greens and Labor voters were more likely to support a republic (46 per cent and 41 per cent respectively) compared to 27 per cent of Coalition voters. 

Ipsos director Jessica Elgood said 34 per cent support for republic was the lowest recorded by Ipsos and Nielsen polls since 1979. She said former US president Donald Trump had not made a presidential system a particularly appealing prospect for most of Australia. 

Australian Republic Movement (ARM) chairman Peter FitzSimons did not accept the result of the opinion poll: "... We have been getting phenomenally strong support.” He claimed ARM's membership had increased by 19 per cent in the past six months. On Australia Day 2016 Mr. FitzSimons said former PM Tony Abbott's re-introduction of Knights and Dames in the year before had given the ARM momentum. He claimed then, ARM's membership had quadrupled since Mr. Abbott's "captain's pick", although total numbers were still just under 5,000. Will the new 19 per cent increase bring the figure up to the 2016 level?

The Australian Monarchist League anticipates support for the monarchy to increase dramatically over the next year with the Queen’s 95th birthday occurring on the 21st of April 2021 and the Duke of Edinburgh’s 100th birthday on June the 10th this year and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrating 70 years on the throne occurring on the 6th of February 2022.

Tuesday 18 August 2020

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales sent a message to Victoria

 His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales has recorded a message to the people of Victoria in light of the current public health situation.


Tuesday 9 June 2020

The Duke of Edinburgh's 99th Birthday

Just released by the Palace, a new photograph of  H.R.H. Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, with H. M. The Queen to mark his 99th birthday, on Wednesday. 

The photography was taken at Windsor Castle last week. 

Friday 13 March 2020

"We saw that enduring spirit of Aussie ‘mateship’"

A speech by HRH The Prince of Wales at a Reception and Dinner for the Australian Bushfires Appeal

The Prince of Wales is attending a dinner in aid of the Australian bushfire relief and recovery effort, hosted by The Lord Mayor of the Ccity of London. 

If I may say so ladies and gentlemen, it is particularly heart-warming to see so many of you gathered here this evening, and to know how determined you are to help those who were so cruelly affected by the catastrophic bushfires in Australia recently.  I was most touched to have been invited to join you for this occasion and to have an opportunity to express, once again, just how much my family and I care about what I can only imagine must have seemed like an apocalyptic vision of Hell that the Australian people have been through over these past, desperately trying, few months. 
Like all of you, I was profoundly shocked by the extent and intensity of the fires which swept Australia this Summer.  They affected an area, as you’ll know better than I, larger than Scotland, and even the most seasoned firefighters were taken aback by their ferocity.  These terrifying fires robbed people of their lives, their loved ones, and their property; driving them from their homes while, at the same time, wreaking untold devastation on Australia’s unique and precious wildlife.  The scale of the loss is as appalling as it is heart-breaking and it is dreadful to think of the suffering that so many Australians have had to endure. 
I must say, I was deeply moved by the letters my family and I received from Australians describing the dreadful scenes they witnessed.  One lady from New South Wales described how, driving through the Snowy Mountains near Canberra, she saw: “Hundreds and hundreds of miles of burnt trees – utter devastation everywhere. The one thing that I noticed” she went on, “was the silence… no birdsong of any type.  My heart was broken at the sights we saw while driving through each small hamlet.”
Amidst the horror and the sorrow, I have, above all, felt the greatest possible sense of admiration for the extraordinary determination and resilience of the Australian people.  The manner in which firefighters and other emergency services, as well as countless thousands of volunteers, in their own unique, Antipodean way, have risked their lives to defend neighbour and stranger alike, represents, it seems to me, the very essence of the Australian character.
At times we saw that enduring spirit of Aussie ‘mateship’ tested by exhaustion, by the greatest pressure and by the gravest danger.  It is not surprising that the firies’ helmet now stands alongside the diggers’ slouch hat as a powerful symbol of the courage, resilience and generosity for which Australians are renowned.   At the very worst of times, we saw the very best of Australia – and knowing the Aussies, as I do after fifty-four years, that makes me very proud.
The dividend of that remarkable resilience is already clear.  I have read such heartening reports of recovery in so many of the fire-affected communities; and I have been greatly encouraged by plans to restore some of the precious habitats that have been lost and by the fact that the Australian Government has provided $2 billion to the National Bushfire Recovery Fund to kick-start recovery and rebuilding, and to help communities and businesses get back on their feet. 
However, the overriding, fundamental challenge remains.  Tragically and terrifyingly, these bushfires are becoming ever more frequent and more fierce as temperatures rise, breaking records even in Australia’s capital cities, with a truly alarming 48.9°c in the Sydney suburb of Penrith in early January, just as we saw 46.6°c in Adelaide last year.  Longer, hotter, drier summers are the new reality with which Australia must contend.  And so, while we pray that the devastation of this past bushfire season will not be seen again, we must, it troubles me to say, be prepared that it may be very likely repeated and that the resilience of the Australian people will continue to be tested in an unprecedented way… 
Through all of this, I can only hope that Australians are able to draw strength from knowing just how much so many people around the world care about their situation.  Thoughts and prayers are important, of course, but they only go so far: it has mattered even more that so many friends of Australia, particularly here in the United Kingdom, have been so generous in donating to charities and bushfire recovery causes.
My Prince’s Trust Australia is playing its own small part by working with a range of stakeholders including the Kangaroo Island Council, and Shane Fitzsimmons, Commissioner of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, on a medium and long-term response to the bushfires.  This includes helping with the design and rebuilding of a community centre in South Australia which, I hope, might offer a useful blueprint for other communities working so hard to rebuild. 
I do know, Ladies and Gentlemen, just how much each of you is doing to support those Australian communities as they recover from the bushfires or, indeed, as we are discovering with ever-greater extremes in weather patterns,  those who are now having to contend with serious flooding.  I am sure that tonight’s dinner will make a very significant contribution to all these efforts. 
Now, I am only too aware that so many of you feel the same deep affection for Australia and her people that I have always felt, and which is now etched into my sub-conscious.  And so I can only thank you again ladies and gentlemen, for your tremendous generosity and for the friendship and solidarity you have shown to those who have borne so much.

Wednesday 8 January 2020

Message from HRH The Prince of Wales to the people of Australia



Her Majesty The Queen has sent a message of condolence to the Governor General of Australia, Governor of New South Wales, Governor of Queensland, and Governor of Victoria and to all Australians.