In 1975 the British Queen instructed her representative the governor general to dismiss the Australian prime minister, dissolving the Australian parliament.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Australian_constitution...

In principle this power still exists. Whether Charles could pull off the same trick depends on the political situation on the ground.

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ztetranz 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

I don't think the Queen instructed the Governor General to do that. He made the decision.

I'm old enough to remember it and remember a statement from the palace saying something like "The Queen is watching events in Australia with interest" but I don't think she took an active part.

I quick search reveals this. I don't know this site but if true then some letters seem to confirm the above. She told the GG to obey the Australian Constitution.

https://constitution-unit.com/2020/07/16/palace-letters-show...

	▲	aspenmayer 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		This is also relevant, if only to illustrate that the incident had more going on than it appeared on the surface: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alleged_CIA_involvement_in_the...

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nl 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The claim that the Queen actually _instructed_ the Govenor General to dismiss the PM isn't widely supported.

It's true that the palace was involved in discussions with the GG to a greater extent than most Australians though was acceptable though.

However this was before the 1986 Australia Act which cleared up the ambiguity around that.