Crowe Supports Royal Reign Down Under
By WENNMonday, May 3, 2010
RUSSELL CROWE has rejected calls from his fellow Antipodeans for Australia to become a republic - insisting he does not want the country to break ties with Britain.
The Gladiator star was born in New Zealand and grew up in Australia, where Britain’s monarch Queen Elizabeth II is the crowned sovereign of both countries as part of the Commonwealth of Nations - formally the British Empire.
During recent years, several Australian politicians have called for a nationwide referendum to decide whether the country should sever its ties with royalty and become an independent republic.
But Crowe insists the act of rejecting royalty would go against Australia’s traditions - and has praised the monarch for her “gracious” behaviour.
He tells Britain’s The Sun, “I am an English speaking man. You can call me a Kiwi or you can call me an Aussie but my family history on both sides is British and it goes back a long way. And one of the things that goes with being British is the factual tradition that the monarchy is in place.
“When you are talking about Queen Elizabeth, I don’t think there is a more gracious world leader. I’ve met both Charles (Prince of Wales) and Andrew (Duke of York) and they were both intelligent and kind men.”
