Asia-Pacific

Australia rejects role for Prince William

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-06-29 14:56

SYDNEY - Australian leaders on Friday ruled out Prince William becoming the country's governor-general, with one commenting that the best place for British royals was half-a-world away in the United Kingdom.

Australian leaders on Friday ruled out Prince William, seen here, becoming the country's governor-general, with one commenting that the best place for British royals was half-a-world away in the United Kingdom. [Agencies]

A new biography on the future heir to the throne says the prince has been suggested as Australia's governor-general, a post coveted by his father Prince Charles in the 1980s.

Charles' overtures were rejected by then prime minister Bob Hawke who felt that having the Queen as head of state and her son as governor-general was a "double dose" of the monarchy which Australians would find unpalatable.

The national mood has hardly changed since then, with current prime minister and avowed monarchist John Howard saying that Prince William would not be an acceptable choice.

"Although I remain a supporter of our current constitutional arrangements, I do think the practice of having a person who is an Australian in every way, and a long-term and permanent resident of this country, is a practice I would not like to see altered," Howard told commercial radio.

Howard's view was backed by that of opposition Labor leader Kevin Rudd.

"There is a great place for the British royals, and it's in Britain," Rudd said.

The idea that Prince William could take on the Australian vice-regal role has come from former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, author of "The Diana Chronicles."

In the book, Brown said that Charles "really wanted the job because he saw it as a way to get the hell out of the grip of Prince Philip and the Queen."

"You might like to know... it has been thought up in regard to William, too," she told the Australian Women's Weekly.

Charles has spoken bitterly of his rejection by Hawke, saying in 1994: "So, what are you supposed to think when you are prepared to do something to help and you are just told you're not wanted?"