‘Potentially embarrassing’ letters to reveal what The Queen REALLY knew of Aussie PM’s sacking that sparked 1975 crisis
BUCKINGHAM Palace is bracing for potentially embarrassing revelations about the Queen’s knowledge of a PM’s sacking that sparked riots.
Two-hundred “confidential and sensitive" letters with Australia's ex-Governor-General are being released for the first time in over four decades.
Prof Jenny Hocking, of the Australian Republican Movement, has won a four-year battle overturning the embargo banning their release.
Buckingham Palace had opposed the anti-monarchists' High Court action and is now bracing itself for the release of their secret contents.
A source told The Sun: "The Australians have ridden roughshod over years of royal protocol and [are] setting a dangerous precedent."
The intriguing letters will lift the lid on one of the most dramatic political crises in Australia.
The correspondence was written during the leadership of Gough Whitlam - one of his country’s most revolutionary yet divisive statesmen who forged ties with China but triggered a constitutional crisis that split Australia.
While holding office from 1972 to 1975, Whitlam also withdrew Australian troops from Vietnam and ended conscription.
But his legacy was dominated by the greatest political upheaval in Australian history when his centre-left government was sacked by the Queen’s representative, Governor-General Sir John Kerr.
When Sir John's proclamation dissolving Parliament was read in Canberra, Whitlam icily declared: “Well may we say 'God save the Queen', because nothing will save the governor-general,” after Kerr’s dismissal statement ended with the then-customary: “God save the Queen".
His November 11 1975 sacking meant that former conservative leader Malcolm Fraser - Whitlam’s greatest adversary - was installed as caretaker PM.
Campaigners say the letters will show what the Governor-General revealed to the monarch about his plans before he sacked elected Whitlam without any warning.
His unceremonious sacking sparked riots, as thousands of civil servants in Canberra stopped work in protest.
Large demos were also held by dockers in Melbourne and by Labour supporters in Sydney, as angry people opposed the Governor-General's action.
Protesters called for Kerr to be dismissed.
Fast forward to 2017, and Sir Christopher Geidt, private secretary to the Queen, wrote to court saying: "It is the firm view of this office that there is a strong public interest for communications between the Sovereign and her Governors-General to be subject to strict confidentiality."
He added: "There are essentially private communications which are inherently sensitive."
A source said: "No way the Queen was involved in the sacking but has the potential to be highly embarrassing.
"There are very good reasons confidential letters between the Queen and officials such as these are locked up so that the monarch can talk freely."
Republican and anti-monarchist campaigners say the 'Palace Letters' will reveal what truly happened during the country's biggest political crisis.
Letters to the Queen were penned by an increasingly worried Kerr watching Whitlam's left-wing government mired in an economic crisis and personal scandals.
Ministers were caught recruiting a Pakistani fixer to secure loans from the Middle East to bail out the economy.
Opposition MPs demanded elections and blocked the government's budget.
Australia risked running out of cash within weeks unless a solution could be found.
Kerr ended the logjam and summoned a shocked Whitlam to his office and sacked him with immediate effect.
Minutes later he installed opposition leader Malcolm Fraser as PM and the budget was immediately passed.
Neither Kerr nor Gough Whitlam ever alleged the Queen was involved in the sacking.
Prof Jenny Hocking claims Aussies should know what the Queen was told about Kerr's stunning political interference.
The letters were locked up in the Australian National Archives in 1977 until 2027 - and only then with the permission of the monarch dubbed the "Queen's personal embargo".
90 DAYS TO RELEASE LETTERS
The 50-year rule is standard for private communications from the Queen in the Commonwealth.
Six High Court judges have ruled the letters are not private letters but Commonwealth property instead.
The archives in Canberra have 90 days to release the letters.
A delighted Prof Hocking said: "The extraordinary thing was the embargo was the Queen's personal embargo over our letters and our National Archives.
"The letters may be redacted in parts but there is no way these letters can now be hidden from public under an embargo by the Queen which has been an outrageous situation for us as an independent nation.
"Of course we should see them. They are historical documents.
Prof Hocking
"For the past 45 years Australians have not been able to know about the history of the event because the Queen didn't want us to know which is disgraceful.
"Of course we should see them. They are historical documents.
"In his papers himself Sir John Kerr says he had advice from the Queen's private secretary Sir Martin Charteris on the dismissal.
"It does appear he at very least ran options past the Queen including an option of dismissal.
"There's no way the Queen actually told Kerr to dismiss the Prime Minister.
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"The extent of the palace's knowledge is critical and whether Sir Martin Charteris did as Kerr said in his papers and advised on dismissal.
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"Only the Palace Letters can tell us."
Prof Hocking says Kerr wrote about the letters in his memoirs after leaving Australia to spend his retirement in Australia.