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The letters, a small treasure chest of our history, show that Australia should now do away with subservience to a governor general and move on
• The palace letters: what we know now• ‘Better for Her Majesty not to know’: letters reveal Queen’s role in sacking• Read the full documents from the national archives
In the curious way things sometimes play out in the breaking news cycle, much of the instant coverage after the release of the palace letters – the gripping trove of correspondence between the Queen, her representatives and governor general John Kerr in the run-up to the dismissal of Gough Whitlam – focused on Kerr not giving the Queens a heads-up before moving against the prime minister.
That’s certainly a fact. In one of the letters, the Queen’s private secretary Sir Martin Charteris thanks Kerr for being a good chap by keeping the monarch out of the muck. “If I may say so with the greatest respect, I believe that in NOT informing The Queen what you intended to do before doing it, you acted not only with perfect constitutional propriety but also with admirable consideration for Her Majesty’s position,” he says. Continue reading...