Friday, 25 April 2014

Royal tour: Prince George steals the show as support for monarchy rises




Highlights from William and Kate's two week tour of Australia and New Zealand
As the royal tour draws to a close, there's no doubt Prince George stole the limelight. But what has the young family's visit revealed about Australia and New Zealand's attitudes to the monarchy?
From the moment he was carried down the aircraft steps by his mother on their arrival in New Zealand on Monday 7 April, Prince George was the star of the show.
He has only appeared twice (other than at airports) and even then the settings have been carefully managed - first at a specially convened playgroup in Government House, Wellington and then, memorably, at a new enclosure at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.
On each occasion the appeal of a nine-month-old future king has upstaged even the glamour of a future queen consort and her husband.
Prince George often "stole the show" on his first overseas visit
But while George's photogenic power may have captured the largest proportion of front pages, the real significance of this visit surely lies in what it has revealed about the attitudes within Australia and New Zealand towards the monarchy.

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Hundreds of thousands of people welcomed the Queen to Tasmania during a tour in 1963
The Queen greets a guest at Parliament House, Canberra, during a tour in 1963Parliament House in Canberra was the scene of a glittering occasion on the Queen's 1963 tour


The poll suggested that 51% of those questioned favoured keeping the monarchy, with 42% backing a republic.
Perhaps most surprisingly, support for the monarchy was strongest among 18-24 year-olds. Sixty per cent of those questioned in that age group backed it, with only 28% wanting Australia to become a republic.


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