When the late Queen Elizabeth II marked 70 years on the throne with her 2022 Platinum Jubilee, far from Buckingham Palace, Victorian teenager Michael Ahearn was cooking a British feast with his family.
He was fascinated by the traditions, rituals, and pageantry on display — and he started building a royal collection.
Now in Year 12, he can list the events featured in his most treasured magazines: the 1972 royal visit to WA, the 1997 fallout of Princess Diana’s death, the 1973 wedding of Princess Anne to Captain Mark Phillips.
“I love my magazines, and I’ve also got lots of mugs that I like drinking tea out of,” he said.
Michael hopes to be an architect and is inspired by the royal residences. (Supplied: Michael Ahearn)
“Some of my friends think that I’m pretty crazy, but then I’ve got one close friend who also loves the royal family … so we’re always on the royal family social media sending each other stuff.”
As the republic debate resurfaces in the lead up to King Charles and Queen Camilla’s visit to Australia, the Ocean Grove teenager does not support the push, but thinks it will eventually be successful.
“It’s really important for me as someone who loves the royal family to recognise the impact that the royal family has had on First Nations culture within Australia,” he said.
“That … would be a key motivator for moving away from the monarchy, but I love the monarchy so I’m quite happy with how Australia is at the moment.
“I think that if we were to separate from the monarchy, I would probably end up moving to London.”
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Victorian young monarchists on the rise
Mr Ahearn is not a member of the Australian Monarchist League (AML), but its Victorian youth branch said membership had increased an estimated 15-20 per cent since the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
“What we’ve heard from the media is that after the passing of Queen Elizabeth, that the monarchists will die off … but we’ve seen more Australians supporting the King,” said deputy chair Matthew Stratton.
The AML has more than 50,000 members and more than 100 in its Victorian youth branch, according to Mr Stratton.
The AML did not provide figures for its other youth branches in WA, QLD, and NSW.
Matthew Stratton (third from right) and young monarchists with the Earl of Loudoun (fourth from left). (Supplied: Matthew Stratton)
Mr Stratton said the monarchy was well-regarded by young people.
“I think fundamentally it is quite popular, and, more importantly, it’s not really in people’s minds. That’s the value of a monarchy,” he said.
The 22 year-old student said his own support for the monarchy was cemented by his studies in constitutional law, and he did not believe a republic was inevitable.
“I just don’t think that the Australian people will change,” he said.
“What we’ve seen is a system that has worked, and what we have with the republicans is a system that they can’t even agree on.”
Matthew Stratton says the constitutional monarchy is the most stable and independent form of government. (Supplied: Matthew Stratton)
‘A certain cringe factor’
Michael Ahearn and Matthew Stratton do not represent the typical young person in Australia, according to a 2023 YouGov poll.
It found Australians aged 18-34 were more likely to be embarrassed by the monarchy, more likely to think the institution was bad for the country, and less likely to want to remain a monarchy after King Charles III passes away.
However, they were not more likely than other age groups to think Australia should become a republic as soon as possible.
“The data has to be read in a way that factors in that there’s a lot of apathy, a lot of ambivalence, and also a lot of ignorance about whether Australia should become a republic or not,” said senior history lecturer at Central Queensland University Benjamin T. Jones.
“I think there’s … to use a young person vernacular, a certain cringe factor to the fact that there is still this pomp and circumstance with this aristocrat wearing a crown at the constitutional head of our country.”
Benjamin T. Jones says young people are the most supportive of a republic. (Supplied: Benjamin T. Jones)
Dr Jones, 42, holds a Life Membership of the Australian Republic Movement (its highest level), and last year was named Republican of the Year by The Republican Party of Australia.
He has been studying the republic movement for 15 years, and pointed to the similarities between recent polling and results from the 1990s.
“Clearly some of the young supporters of the republic in the 90s, as they’ve gotten older, have been less inclined to keep that republicanism about them,” he said.
He said the majority of Australians supported having an Australian head of state, but when the questions about an alternative system became more complex, the pro-republican sentiment tended to “crumble”.
Nonetheless, he expected to see change in his lifetime.
Dr Jones does not think enthusiasm for the royal visit will be dampened by a change of monarch. (ABC Goulburn-Murray: Sandra Moon)
“Because of the hyperpartisan nature of referendums, Australia can seem at times as if it’s chained to the corpse of monarchy,” he said.
“There is a sense that [a republic] will eventually happen, because it seems ridiculous that a British monarch just must forever be the head of state of a multicultural, independent democracy in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Dr Jones said he was more interested in the debate surrounding the royal visit than the visit itself.
Michael Ahearn was disappointed he would be in the midst of his Year 12 exams and unable to travel, but Matthew Stratton planned to head to Canberra and hand out flags to the crowd, hoping to meet the King.
