Queen 'not warned' of Australian PM's 1975 sacking
The Queen had not been informed beforehand about the 1975 dismissal of Australian Primary Minister Gough Whitlam, newly released letters show.
Mr Whitlam's federal government was removed by The Queen's representative at that time, Governor-Standard Sir John Kerr, and replaced with an opposition get together.
It really is considered the most controversial celebration in Australian political record.
The letters, released after a court battle, show Sir John wrote it had been "better on her behalf Majesty not to know".
However, in addition they reveal he had reviewed with Buckingham Palace whether he had the constitutional authority to dismiss Mr Whitlam.
Australia is a constitutional monarchy with the Queen seeing that head of state. Prior to the dismissal, various Australians had little thought her representative possessed such power.
Historians experience since questioned what the palace knew about the removal of Mr Whitlam - a progressive whose reforms divided Australia after 2 decades of conservative rule.
More than 200 letters kept sealed in the National Archives were released along Tuesday for the very first time.
In May, the Excessive Court of Australia ruled they may be accessed in the nationwide interest carrying out a challenge by historian Prof Jenny Hocking.
What happened to Gough Whitlam?
Mr Whitlam and his Labor Party came to power found in 1972, implementing guidelines which many celebrated, but he grew less preferred amid a troubled market.
On 11 November 1975, he was sacked on the justification that he previously didn't get parliament to approve spending, and subsequently declined to contact an election.
The governor-general argued he previously the authority to get this done under implied powers in the constitution.
But this "reserve vitality" to remove an elected prime minister has been debated since by legal authorities. The Queen and governor-general's roles are generally symbolic in Australia.
The dismissal was an unprecedented action which shocked Australia - and prompted questions about its political independence from the UK.
Some viewed it as a "constitutional coup" and an overreach of the "royal prerogative", sparking demonstrations and cell phone calls to become republic.
But other folks celebrated Mr Whitlam's departure. Within an election placed soon afterwards, voters overwhelmingly elected the caretaker government of Malcolm Fraser's centre-right Liberal Party.
