IF you’ve seen The Crown season four, you’ll know there’s an episode where former Australian PM Bob Hawke is hoping Charles and Diana’s royal tour will help further the cause for a republican country.
The trip ends with the couple boosting support for the monarchy and Hawke admitting the chances of gaining an Australian head of state have been dashed.
Those who knew Hawke have complained that the highly fictionalised version of events gets a lot wrong about the events and his character.
It seems Sarah Vine may be mixing real life with fiction, too, as in her latest column she appears to believe William and Kate’s royal train tour across Britain has had a similar impact on independence.
Vine, the wife of Cabinet member Michael Gove, is upset with “sour grapes” from Welsh and Scottish leaders over the couple’s “feelgood” tour.
Despite the intense PR backlash over the couple’s 1250-mile tour – coming while most of us face strict travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic – Vine seems to think it has shown how “relevant” and “popular” they are.
The writer complains that Nicola Sturgeon was “grumpy” about Kate and William’s visit to level 3 Edinburgh.
Reality check: The First Minister was very diplomatic when asked for comment on the trip, simply suggesting she had told the royals about the travel restrictions in advance and directing all other enquiries to the royal household.
Vine says it’s not about the rules at all, and instead Sturgeon is upset because while independence support is high “the Duke and Duchess are a reminder of all that is good about the British Crown and the Union”.
READ MORE: SNP MP: Kate and William's visit sends out wrong and confusing signals
Polls in recent years show less than half of Scots actually support the monarchy, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good storyline.
“Having so successfully entranced our Celtic cousins with visions of a brave new Scottish dawn, how inconvenient to have Kate and William showing up — twinkly ambassadors for all the morale-boosting qualities of royalty,” Vine theorises.
The times of morale-boosting trips are gone. Were essential workers, just last week told they face a public sector spending freeze, really that thrilled to see Kate swanning around toasting marshmallows in an Alexander McQueen coat while they aren’t allowed to leave their local authority area or hug their own family members?
Vine’s claim that William and Kate are a threat to the cause of independence are out of touch and fail to understand why Scots are hoping to get out of this unequal Union.
Campaigners want The Crown to feature a disclaimer explaining it is fiction. This column needs the same.
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