Performing Monkeys required

Some republicans are getting stirred up that no royal is coming to the funeral of Sir Edmund Hillary. As a moderate Monarchist (i.e. would not protest in the streets if a republic was established democratically) I find the idea of a snub being odd. And especially those who are loudly decrying the non-appearance of the monarchy are those who want to cut the ties. The Republicans would be the first to point out, the taxpayer will be picking up the tab of the flying visit.

In my opinion, there is only one Royal who had a established relationship with Sir Ed, and that is the Queen. And to expect the Queen - who is an 81 year old woman - to fly for thirty hours on a commercial jet to New Zealand, stay a day, and then fly 30 hours back to Britain would be beyond most people of her age.

Any other royal attending would be pointless, as I'm not aware of any significant ongoing relationship with Sir Ed (and none has been mentioned in the media). Sending our Govenor-General, and having a special service for the Hillary family at Windsor Castle seems a more appropriate gesture.

And talking of appropriate gestures, I whole-heartedly agree with (New Zealand Born) Australian journalist Spiro Zavos' call to reinstate SPARC's old name - the Hillary Commission, and wonder why it took an Aussie to point this out to me.