Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Minutes after arriving at Sydney airport, Prince William did something that an Australian leader would rarely, if ever, do on home soil: lever himself into the back seat of a car. Australian leaders make a point of sitting next to the driver, a gesture designed to convey that the prime minister is merely the first among equals in this fiercely egalitarian country. The PM's car isn't that flash either - a modified white Holden (the Aussie Vauxhall) that would not look out of place on the drive of any suburban bungalow, save for the Aussie flag fastened to the bonnet.

To many, it is one of the great Australian anomalies that a nation so strongly committed to the egalitarian ideal continues to countenance a monarchical system founded on inherited privilege. There are the further paradoxes, too: how an increasingly patriotic country, which loves beating the Poms, has one as its head of state; and how a country where Catholics outnumber Protestants maintains a system where co-religionists are blocked from the throne. But let's stick with egalitarianism for the time being.

Here, I am reminded of a comment from a reader a few months back, who reckoned he had seen me sitting in business class on a flight to Perth. Alas no, I was in economy. But by strange coincidence, I also had a case of mistaken identity on that trans-continental journey. I was sure that former Governor General Sir Michael Jeffery was sitting in the row in front. In fact, I got so very excited that I felt a blog coming on. As it turned out, it was Sir Michael's doppelganger. But it was well within the bounds of possibility that such an exalted figure could be consigned to such a humble seat - the airborne equivalent, I suppose, of sitting next to the driver.

When it comes to egalitarianism, Australians have a few natural advantages. Few things tell you more about a Briton, for example, than the way he or she speaks - something which is not true to anywhere near the same extent in Australia. Conversations can last hours in this part of the world without any mention being made of where you went to school or college. Double-barrelled names, another social locator, are not that common here, and nor are the kind of linguistic tics which often denote a Briton's class. It's rare, for instance, to hear the word "one" used as a term of self-description. In short, there's not the same fascination or fixation with class. It is the everyman that supposedly matters most in Australia rather than the elites.

As for the Prince's visit, the local press has judged it an enormous success. Certainly, it's been cleverly choreographed, with the Prince zipping across Sydney harbour in a hi-speed powerboat - , noted the headline writers at the Australian - meeting Aboriginal elders and spending time with victims of the bushfires.

But St James's Palace might have missed a trick. Imagine the PR coup if Prince William had stepped from his VIP flight, shaken the hands of the dignitaries and then jumped into the front seat of the waiting limo.

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