It's okay to look forward to the Royal Wedding even if you are a Republican

Recently The Australian reported that support for an Australian republic is at its lowest level since the mid-1990s.

“With renewed interest in the monarchy as the royal wedding approaches, a special Newspoll puts support for a republic at just 41 per cent, with only 25 per cent strongly in favour.

According to the poll, conducted exclusively for The Australian this month, overall support for a republic is now 10 points below a pre-referendum peak of 51 per cent, and at its lowest for 17 years since hitting 39 per cent in March 1994.

The latest poll reveals 39 per cent of Australians are against a republic, while one in five have no opinion either way.”

“Last week I passed a couple in the street posing for photographs. Her in frothy white, him in tailored finery, both gazing into each other’s adoring eyes—oblivious to the bustling city around them—while bridesmaids nursed bouquets on the sidelines.

As a pathetic romantic, how could I help but stop and stare? It’s the same when I pull up at the traffic lights beside a white-ribbonned car. I squirm to get a glimpse of the backseat. A nervous groom. A nostalgic dad. A best man double-checking his top pocket, relieved to feel the lump of the ring box. A gaggle of girlfriends with identical up-dos. Happy eyes through a thin veil.

You see, weddings, for me, are a visual and emotional feast chock-full of endorphins. They make me cry and gush and swoon and awwww. They bring me back to my big day nearly four years ago, to my friends’ and to the many hours I spent poring over Mum and Dad’s album as a little kid.

When William and Catherine walk down the aisle next week, I’ll feel the same thing. I don’t know them any more than I know the couple I passed in the street, but their love is just as vivid. Neither of them is more beautiful than when they are looking at the other—their eyes sparkle above unbridled smiles.

What a privilege it will be to watch and celebrate the beginning of their lives together. I wish them happiness.

Now for the big but. I like big buts, and I cannot lie. Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

I will watch the royal wedding with a champagne and a box of tissues, but I am a Republican. No, not the conservative American type in chinos and a gold-buttoned, navy blue blazer. I believe that Australia should become a Republic.

We’re 110 years old, people—it’s time we move out of the granny flat and claim our independence. That doesn’t mean I don’t like the Queen. In fact, I think she’s kind of cool. When I was three, I gave her a bunch of flowers I’d picked from my garden wrapped in alfoil. She said thank you. I’ve met Charles and Camilla too. They’re ace. And Will seems like a top bloke from what I’ve read.

I just don’t see the relevance in having HRH or any of her rellies rule the roost when we’re perfectly capable of doing it ourselves these days.

A hefty word-count has been spent examining the likely impact of this wedding on Australia’s ties to the monarchy.

As if, blinded by a confetti flurry, we will be so infatuated with this young couple’s love that we won’t be able to bring ourselves to break-up with the mother country. So busy tending to display cabinets groaning under the weight of limited edition crockery that we’ll overlook the sense in moving towards an Australian head of state.

Worse, those of us who like an ivory frock as much as we like constitutional reform are being made to think we’re hypocrites.

‘How can you watch the royal wedding if you’re not a monarchist?’ they say.

The same way I watched Mary and Fred tie the knot and didn’t morph into a card-carrying Dane.

Fear not, romantic patriots. There isn’t an ounce of incongruity in loving love as much as you do progress. Watch the wedding. Be happy for them. And don’t let anyone tell you that by doing so you forfeit your right to think.”

Will you be watching as a proud Australian or will you just be watching a romantic fairytale wedding ?