John MacDonald: It's no to a republic for me - but why?

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

I reckon the best description of the King’s Coronation that I’ve seen was by a journalist in the UK who said it was “huge, hideous, exquisite and sacred”.

Four words that sum it up brilliantly.

Which is exactly how I felt when I watched it the other night. I thought it was a brilliant spectacle - but I felt absolutely no connection at all to the Monarchy.

And I thought it was completely irrelevant to us here in New Zealand.

I thought the music was fantastic. Modern and traditional, at the same time. I thought William and Kate looked like they should’ve been the ones being crowned. Kate was absolutely stunning, wasn’t she?

And I’m probably not the first person to say that the King himself looked a bit out of sorts. If you’ve seen the video online, you’ll know that he was a bit brassed-off right from the start when he was kept waiting by William and Kate after turning up at the abbey.

At least the pen worked later on.

So the coronation event itself at Westminster Abbey was everything you’d expect. But it still left me cold. That was because it struck me how old-hat this idea of being bound to a monarch 18,000 kilometres away really is.

Not that my thinking surprised me. I’ve thought this way for a while now. But it’s when you see the whole thing playing out on the TV, that you really start to think.

And maybe it’s because the mantle has been passed from the late Queen - who seemed to have been around forever - and maybe having a different person on the throne does make it all seem very different.

So there I was on Saturday night. Appreciating the spectacle, but not feeling connected in any way, shape or form to what was going on.

As I say, no big surprise that that’s how I was feeling.

But where I have surprised myself, is when it comes to whether New Zealand becomes a republic.

Because you would assume, wouldn’t you, that if I felt completely detached from all the goings on at the Coronation, and felt this a disconnection to the monarchy for a long time, that I’d be waving the flag big time for republicanism.

But I’m not!

Maybe it says more about me than anything else. Maybe I have become such a slacker in my old age that the whole idea of turning New Zealand into a republic sounds like such hard work that I just can’t be bothered with it all.

I don’t think I am a complete slacker - but there is something in that.

Because, despite all the talk about New Zealand needing to make its own way in the world and all the talk from the Prime Minister saying he’d like us to have a head of state who actually lives here someday, I just don’t think it’s worth it.

I just don’t think all the palava we’d have to go through would be worth it.

Can you imagine all the things that would have to change? All the constitutional changes. All the money. All of that.

Which possibly makes me just as hypocritical as other people who have been in the firing line in recent days. Like the Prime Minister, who has been criticised by some for going to the Coronation in the first place when his support for a republic is obvious. I actually think that criticism is a bit mealy-mouthed because he’s the Prime Minister, for goodness sake.

But you see what I mean. And if I was really true to myself then I’d be telling you that I think New Zealand should quit the Commonwealth ASAP.

But I’m not saying that.

I do think it’s ridiculous that we are lorded over by a monarch 18,000 kilmetres away. But that still isn’t enough for me to say New Zealand should become a republic. Because I just don’t think all the hassle would be worth it. And I have surprised myself no end.

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