Word: whitlam
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...atmosphere at Windsor Castle could have been, to say the least, a little strained. As house guests for the night, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip had invited Australia's forceful, independent-minded Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, and his equally outspoken wife Margaret (TIME, March 26). It was the Queen's first encounter with Whitlam since he was elected last December on a mandate that included snipping some of Australia's ties to both the monarchy and the mother country...
...turned out, the get-together was as easygoing as a barbecue in the Outback. The hosts graciously did not bring up Whitlam's proposal to replace God Save the Queen as his nation's national anthem. For their part, the guests brought a well-received present, a thick sheepskin rug. As Margaret Whitlam later related, "Prince Philip took off his shoes and trampled about in its depths to get the feel...
There were other signs that Whitlam's six-day visit was more amicable than might have been expected. The British press gave the Whitlams a markedly friendly reception: MR. DOWN-UNDER COULD BE TOPS, said a Sunday Telegraph headline. The Dally Mail delved into Aussie slang to describe Mrs. Whitlam as "a 'beaut sheila' indeed,"-meaning, roughly, a swell dame. On the government's part, Prime Minister Edward Heath thoughtfully invited the four Whitlam children, aged 19 to 29, who had gathered in London for a family reunion, to join their parents at a state dinner...
When it came to name-calling, Whitlam gave more than he got. In Australia's rambunctious House of Representatives, where debate is often a euphemism for denunciation, Whitlam has described Liberal Cabinet ministers variously as "bumptious bastard," "queen," "dingo" (Australia's version of a coyote) and something that Hansard recorded as "runt" (which at least rhymed with the actual word). He once became so enraged with one Liberal minister that he dumped a glass of water on him. That minister was Paul Hasluck, who later became Governor General of Australia and, in an antipodean twist of fate, found...
...Dressed in a dark blue suit and a blue and white striped shirt with matching handkerchief, Gough Whitlam looked like everyone's friendly neighborhood banker," TIME Sydney Bureau Chief Ed Ogle reported after an interview with the Australian Prime Minister. "When I told him that my first question was going to be about the future of Australia, he flashed a grin and quipped to his press secretary: 'Quick, get my papers on that.' But it was obvious as the interview progressed that Gough Whitlam needed no papers on Australia's future-or anything else...