A tough couple of years, really.
Actually, a few years, now we think about it.
OK. In summary: it’s been a tough couple of decades for the royals.
While a royal wedding still sets imaginations running wild, and the occasional royal baby brings out the monarchists and the tiny Union Jack flags, it’s hard to argue with the notion that the Windsors have had a tough time of it from a PR perspective.
That arguably all came to a head last week, when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex sat down for an interview with Oprah Winfrey which shed light on some of the more antiquated – and, some would say, cruel – ways the royal family deals with modern life.
Harry and Meghan decided to cut ties to the royal family – but the question of whether New Zealand will follow suit, and abolish the monarchy from its already-minimal position in day-to-day life seems to be one of those perennial questions which occasionally pops up and gets tongues wagging, before quickly fading away.
But if we did decide to go our own way … how would it work? What sorts of constitutional vacuums would open up, and what would fill them? What sort of system would we elect to follow, if not a constitutional monarchy?
Today on The Detail, Emile Donovan speaks to constitutional law experts Graeme Edgeler and Dr Moana Jackson about the competing pressures, and options, available to New Zealand.
The first thing to note is New Zealand doesn’t have a written…
