
I am trying to find exactly the right word to describe how I feel when I hear serious, experienced, political ABC journalists use the word ‘commoner’.
The first time in my recent memory was on the occasion of the wedding of Will and Kate. Two distinguished Australian journalists, Mark Colvin and Emma Alberici, discussed, with all seriousness, the mode of locomotion Kate Middleton would be relying on to get to Westminster Abbey, since, as a ‘commoner’, she wasn’t entitled to go by royal carriage.
Right.
And now, with the arrival of another heir to the English throne, I hear, in a lather of great excitement, Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast interviewing a ‘veteran’ royal watcher.
The first time in my recent memory was on the occasion of the wedding of Will and Kate. Two distinguished Australian journalists, Mark Colvin and Emma Alberici, discussed, with all seriousness, the mode of locomotion Kate Middleton would be relying on to get to Westminster Abbey, since, as a ‘commoner’, she wasn’t entitled to go by royal carriage.
Right.
And now, with the arrival of another heir to the English throne, I hear, in a lather of great excitement, Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast interviewing a ‘veteran’ royal watcher.