Australia’s ‘rightful’ king is dead, farewell Micheal Abney-Hastings

AUSTRALIA’S own ‘heir’ to the throne of England has passed away. Micheal Abney-Hastings died on Saturday morning at the age of 69, battling a debilitating illness and had been in and out of hospital in the lead-up to his death. Mr Abney-Hastings is well known in the country New South Wales  region of Jerilderie Shire but is most famous for the 2004 documentary Britain’s Real Monarch, which suggests he should be the King of England in place of Queen Elizabeth II.

His parents were Captain Walter Strickland Lord and the 13th Countess of Loudoun Barbara Abney-Hastings, making him the 14th Earl of Loudoun. The documentary suggests King Edward IV was conceived illegitimately, and therefore as the direct descendant of the 1st Duke of Clarence – Mr Abney-Hastings should be the rightful King.

Mr Abney-Hastings was born in Sussex in 1942 and attended a private school in Yorkshire before moving to Jerilderie with his family.

“It is very sad,” Jerilderie Shire Council general manager Craig Moffitt told Wagga Wagga’s Daily Advertiser.

“He was quite a character around the town.”

“He didn’t take his royal position too seriously, at least here in Jerilderie,” Mr Moffitt said.

“[However] He would go over to England for royal ceremonies which he took seriously, but he always found it quite funny.”

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