So he's gone then, that prince bloke who wants to be our King sometime not so soon. Reminds me of an earlier version, one Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Silvester Severino Maria Stuart (his section of the family preferred the French spelling of our name) aka the Young Pretender. A grandson of James II of England (James IV of Scotland), unlike William Wales he was the last prince to have a sound claim to the British throne that in 1714 was denied 56 contenders because German George was the NOT a Catholic.

So all those New Zealand monarchists who shout the odds about a King not being subject to the vagaries of political currents should remember that the present Royal Family that claims sovereignty over New Zealand was put in power by the Revolution of 1688 that deposed Charlie's grandfather. The present house of Windsor really owes its position to a Dutch general (William III, the “Orange”) who was the last successful invader of England. He instituted a politically correct state based on religious bigotry that made sure no Catholics would ever attain power, a situation that was continues to claim British lives in Ulster today.

So there you go, monarchists, the House of Windsor has no more claim to the thrones of England, Scotland and Wales than the hundreds of descendents of the 56 Catholics who were denied their chance three hundred years ago. And as for New Zealand, well a careful reading of Treaty of Waitangi history reveals that the concession of sovereignty by rangatira in 1840 was elicited under duress, as a good lawyer would say, and is not worth the paper it is written on.

The solution is simple – give back sovereignty, what Nopera Panakareao of Te Rarawa called 'the shadow of the land' to Maori royalty, leave governorship (kawanatanga) in the hands of parliament and all those disputes over the Treaty will go away.

Then all we have to decide is whether we have a new Upper House (House of Rangatira) made up of the hereditary Maori nobility, with the Royal Assent to all legislation being give by a Maori King. At least that king's authority would be based on a lineage that is older than that of the House of Windsor, which monarchists are please to assert is a principal reason for supporting a constitutional monarchy. And as for the armed forces' loyalty to the throne being above politics, how much further above would it be for armed forces whose numbers are predominantly Maori?

All that remains is to decide who would be King. Would it be the present head of the Tainui Kingitanga? Or would it be a descendant of Hongi Hika, the first truly national conqueror of Aotearoa? Perhaps a descendent of Kahungunu, who can claim noble blood lines through more iwi than any other claimant family, or even a leader from Ngati Porou, with their strong Te Wai Pounamu presence and artistic heritage?

Maybe Maori should have an election – now there is a modern idea – a nation headed by a democratically elected individual. With the conservative dimension that only those born to power get to vote – and in New Zealand that means only Maori.