Royal Australian Tour Is A Smashing Success

Upon arrival in Australia on Wednesday, October 19th, Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh were greeted at the Royal Australian Air Force base by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Governor-General Quentin Bryce.

Bryce curtsied as protocol required upon greeting the Queen, but Gillard chose to shake the Queen’s hand and give a slight bow. It caused quite a stir and Gillard was pegged as “rude”.

“If she isn’t a royalist, it’s not a matter of that; it’s a matter of paying courtesy to a queen, to the Queen,” said June Dally-Watkins, an Australian etiquette expert.

Gillard said she was told to do what she “was most comfortable with”.

Reports say that the lack of curtsey is merely a “storm in a teacup”. The Queen is said to be “delighted” with the warm reception she has received in Australia.

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Prince To Postpone Party-Hearty Ways

Prince Harry will be taming his late night trawling for an upcoming tour.

Harry is expected to undertake his first solo tour in 2012 – in honor of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee – representing his grandmother in the Commonwealth Nations.

This tour marks a “coming of age” for Harry as it prepares him for the eventual division of the current household, which he shares with William. Upon the completion of William’s military duties, the princes will each have their own household, representing the Queen in their own capacity.

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Queen’s Australia Trip May Overturn Succession Law

British Prime Minister David Cameron, with the backing of the Queen, has discussed overturning the ancient law of primogeniture in the United Kingdom.

Currently, if a first-born royal child is a girl, she will be automatically superseded in the line of succession if a male sibling is born.

With the marriage of Prince William to Kate Middleton in April, the topic of primogeniture has been a major talking point. It has been deemed out of date in the current modern era, and the Queen is set to support the change. Her Majesty needs the approval of Commonwealth countries to enact such a change, so the royal tour is the time to seize the moment.

David Howell, the Foreign Office minister for the Commonwealth, said that he believed the matter of royal succession “will be discussed and I believe approved at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth”.