A second attempt by a Windsor family member to take a top Australian public position has failed. Prime Minister John Howard has declared that 25 year old William Windsor is an unacceptable candidate for governor-general of his country.
Mr. Windsor’s father, Charles Windsor, was rejected for the same position in the 1980s. He was reported to be hurt and angered by his rejection.
William Windsor’s hope for the job in a country of which he is not a citizen has been reported in Tina Brown’s new biography of the junior Windsor’s mother.
Prime Minister. Howard, a monarchist, said that the governor-general had to be a citizen of Australia. Labour Party leader Kevin Rudd was blunter. He told Southern Cross radio that “There is a great place for the British royals and it’s in Britain”.
Charles Windsor told The Australian newspaper in 1994 that the “splendid” atmosphere in Australia and its “give a bloke a go” outlook appealed to him. At home “give a bloke a go” Mr. Windsor draws more than £14m a year free of income tax from the Duchy of Cornwall property holdings that were put at the disposal of his family when they arrived from Germany. He will become head of state without competition on the death of his mother, a position from which all Britons outside his family are barred at birth.
Bob Hawke, Prime Minister when the older Windsor wanted to be made governor-general, told The Australian “I made it quite clear it wasn’t on. We’re in favour of a republic. The idea of doubling the dose (having a Windsor as head of state and governor-general) … held no appeal.”
The governor-general of Australia is Elizabeth Windsor’s representative as head of state and commander-in-chief of the Australian military. The post has often been filled by British citizens. The first Australian governor-general was appointed in 1932 but a Windsor family member took the post in 1947.
Tina Brown’s biography also reveals that Philip Windsor, the husband of Britain’s head of state, called Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam a “socialist arsehole”.