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A recently revealed letter, allegedly from Prince Charles to former Australian Governor General Sir John Kerr, supporting his decision to remove Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, has been condemned as “inappropriate”.
The letter, which was published by News Corp on Saturday, is dated March 27, 1976, several months after the constitutional crisis, as Kerr faced fierce backlash from the Australian public.
“Please don’t be discouraged,” the letter reportedly shows Prince Charles, then 27, writing to Kerr. “What you did last year was good and the bravest thing you can do, and most Australians seemed to back your decision when the time came.”
The letter, which has not been independently verified by Guardian Australian, continues to urge Kerr not to listen to those protesting against the decision to fire the Labor prime minister.
“I hope you don’t worry too much about this kind of demonstration and bullshit … I bring up all of this just in case you’re getting a little depressed or dejected.”
Professor Jenny Hocking, a historian and Whitlam expert from Monash University whose high court case led to the publication of the “palace letters,” said the letter confirmed that Prince Charles approved and supported Kerr’s decision.
“It really confirms some of the concerns that have been raised through the publication of the palace letters,” he said.
“Much more troubling to me was the confirmation, through those earlier letters from the palace, that Charles had spoken to Kerr quite a bit in September 1975 on matters that included the possibility that he might remove the government.
“This was later conveyed to the Queen by Charles, as revealed by his private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, in a letter to Kerr in October 1975. So Charles’s discussions with Kerr were also well known to the Queen.
“It is not the first indication of support for the dismissal within the royal family. The very, very strong support of Lord Louis Mountbatten was revealed many years ago. “
The royal family must remain politically neutral when it comes to Australia, especially since Prince Charles will become the head of state after the queen abdicates or dies.
“Covering those political issues is extremely inappropriate,” Hocking said. “These are conversations that shouldn’t be happening.”
Prince Charles is known to have an affinity for Australia, at one point asking about buying property in New South Wales and even having talks with Kerr about the possibility of taking over as Governor General in the 1970s.
The Australian Republican Movement, which is campaigning for Australia’s independence from the British monarchy, said the publication of the letter was extremely concerning.
“As seen in the UK, Charles is not content to keep his distance from political affairs; in fact, he advocates directly for politics, sometimes in conflict with government policy at the time,” said the national director of ARM. Sandy Biar said.
“Unless Australia becomes a republic, this is the kind of behavior we could expect to see from our future head of state.”
But the Australian Royalist League said there was no political intent behind Prince Charles’ words.
“When you read the substance [of the letter], one finds a young man writing with compassion in the hope that the relentless attacks on the governor general will not depress him, ”said the group’s national president, Philip Benwell.
“However, it would have been better if Her Royal Highness had not said ‘what you did last year was good’ as it leads people to assume that these words represent participation in Australian politics, which was clearly not the intention. when you read the entire letter “.
But Hocking said that other evidence, which was already in the public domain, showed that Prince Charles clearly had a political interest in Australia.
“We know [Kerr] he was having intense political discussions with Carlos and the Queen through his private secretary, and he shouldn’t have been … It’s completely inappropriate, so it’s not easy to dismiss it simply as a friend’s concern. “
The Australian newspaper reports did not include information on where or how the letter was obtained, which Hocking said was important in assessing its significance. Hocking said the letter raised questions about transparency and access to historical records.
“Why is this letter from Prince Charles to Kerr not part of the general collection of the National Archives?” she said. “The question arises as to whether there are other letters between Kerr and members of the royal family elsewhere that should be compiled into a single clearly identified collection in our archives.”
Guardian Australia approached Buckingham Palace for comment.
