For us in Australia there are two separate arguments around monarchy, for one could defend the idea of constitutional monarchy without accepting that sovereignty should reside on the other side of the world. Had the founders of Federation imported one of Queen Victoria’s children to establish an Australian dynasty, we could now be talking about five generations of Australian-born monarchs. The Queen appears on our coins, and every year Australia Post produces stamps for her birthday, but I suspect few of us take much notice. In fact there is ongoing confusion in most people’s minds about the respective roles of the Queen and the Governor-General, rather akin to the plot of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. US President Donald Trump and the Queen laugh during a state banquet at Buckingham Palace. Credit:AP Republicanism in Australia is a movement for national assertion. In Britain itself, as in countries like Japan, Denmark or Jordan, monarchy is a symbol of the nation. Those who support the concept of a constitutional monarchy point to the reality that some of the most progressive states of western Europe - the Scandinavian and Benelux nations - have retained royal heads of state. The key point is that their survival depends precisely on their apparent neutrality in politics; in 1990 Belgian King Baudouin told the prime minister he could not sign a law permitting abortion without violating his conscience as a Catholic and abdicated for a 24-hour period to allow the bill to pass.

Loading The British royal family has gone through previous crises of confidence, most recently after the divorce of Charles and Diana, and Diana’s subsequent death. But support for the royals bounced back, and until this year was strong enough to silence even those within the Labor Party who are deeply republican. Widespread support for monarchy rests upon both the belief that the monarchy embodies some mystical sense of the nation alongside a suspicion of elected politicians. The image of US President Donald Trump towering over Queen Elizabeth is a graphic reminder of the importance of separating ceremonial symbols from actual power. But while there is a strong argument for separating the ceremonial and actual power of the state, this does not require monarchy. Germany and Ireland are both examples of well-functioning parliamentary systems with presidents, in the case of Ireland popularly elected. The most interesting case is Switzerland, which has no ceremonial head of state. The British royals will weather Prince Andrew, but his behaviour and sense of entitlement is a graphic reminder that even an apolitical monarchy rests upon extraordinary privilege and wealth. Questions are being asked in the British media about whether the monarchy itself can continue.