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Australia: Sovereign
The Kingdom of Australia
This Christmas I might just listen to something I usually give a miss: the Queen’s Speech.
Because this year it won’t be. For the first time in my memory, it will be the King’s Speech.
Like most Australians, Her Late Majesty became Queen Elizabeth II before I was born. I once wondered why they didn’t change the name of the place to the United Queendom but I guess despite having years to think about it, they never got around to changing the stationery.
Now that I think of it, the United Kingdom was actually ruled by a Queen when it came into being in 1707. Queen Anne was the last Queen of England and the first Queen of the United Kingdom. Misogyny rules, OK?
So, Kingdom of Australia?
Charles III is King of Australia. Why don’t we change our name? You know, become the Kingdom of Australia?
Because that’s not how country names work. You can’t just change the name of the thing without a lot of legal work — such as the British Act of Union 1707 that created the United Kingdom, recognising that the two Kingdoms of England and Scotland had shared a monarch since 1603 when James VI of Scotland inherited the throne of England…
