The Queen and the Whitlam dismissal

This video is another in a series on the dismissal of the Australian Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, in 1975. It addresses the role of the Queen in relation to the dismissal. Did she have any power in relation to the dismissal of an Australian Prime Minister? Could she instruct the Governor-General to reverse the dismissal of a Prime Minister? What legal advice had Whitlam received about these issues in September 1975? It discusses how Whitlam, secretly, contacted the Palace immediately after the vote of no confidence in Fraser, in an effort to get the Palace to pressure the Governor-General to reappoint Whitlam as Prime Minister. It also notes the letter from the Speaker of the House of Representatives to the Queen, asking her to restore Whitlam to office, and the response from the Palace that under the Constitution, this was a matter for the Governor-General, not the Queen. Finally, it addresses the conspiracy theories about the involvement of the Palace and explains why they are wrong. The dismissal was an Australian controversy, involving Australian participants, and was not something in which the Palace wished, or had the power, to be involved.