Miranda, Queen of Australia
| Miranda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Queen of Australia | |
| Reign | 15 October 2014 - present |
| Inauguration | 20 October 2014 |
| Predecessor | Elizabeth II |
| Prime Minister | Tony Abbott Malcolm Turnbull Scott Morrison Anthony Albanese |
| Born | Miranda May Kerr 20 April 1983 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Spouse(s) | Orlando Bloom (m. 2010; div. 2013) Stella Maxwell (m. 2017) |
| Issue | Flynn, Crown Prince of Australia |
| House | Australia |
| Father | John Kerr |
| Mother | Therese Kerr |
| Religion | Christianity |
Miranda (born Miranda May Kerr; 20 April 1983) is the Queen of Australia. The first monarch of the Federation of Australia, the successor state to the former Commonwealth of Australia, Miranda initially rose to fame as a fashion model for the American lingerie brand, Victoria's Secret, for whom she was one of the Victoria's Secret Angels. On 12 June 2014, a historic nationwide referendum resulted in the majority of Australians voting to replace the British monarchy with an "independent, Australian monarchy", following which a subsequent nationwide poll resulted in Miranda being voted to become the first Australian-born monarch, with her reign officially beginning on 15 October 2014, a day after the Australia Monarchy Act 2014 was passed by Parliament the previous day. At the same time, the Commonwealth of Australia was officially replaced with the new Federation of Australia, with Miranda as its first and current monarch to date.
Popularly known as the "Supermodel Queen", Miranda's reign has since been marked by a succession of prime ministers, as well as, among others, the legalisation of same-sex marriages in 2017, the 2019-20 Australian bushfire season, and the COVID-19 pandemic which struck the country in early 2020. Meanwhile, despite her ceremonial role, Miranda is generally seen as being a somewhat vocal monarch, with the Queen being a strong proponent of women's rights, environmentalism, as well as physical health.
In December 2017, shortly after same-sex marriages were legalised in Australia, Miranda married fellow Victoria's Secret Angel, Stella Maxwell, becoming the first Australian monarch to engage in a same-sex marriage. Beforehand, from 2010 to 2013, Miranda was married to the English actor, Orlando Bloom, with whom she had one son.
Early Life
Born on 20 April 1983 at Gunnedah, New South Wales, Miranda was the daughter of Australians, John Kerr and Therese Kerr, with her mother being seventeen years old at the time of her birth. Of English ancestry with some amounts of Scottish and French, she has a younger brother, Matthew, born two years afterwards.
A physically active individual in her youth, Miranda was said to have "raced motorbikes and rode horses on her grandmother's farm", and has described her early years as "very grounding", stating, "There wasn't any pretentiousness and no one really cared what you were wearing. You could just be you". In addition to this, during her teenage years, Miranda was also an exchange student to Virginia, United States, where she lived for a period of time. Sometime afterwards, the Kerr family moved to Brisbane, Queensland, where Miranda herself later graduated from All Hallows' School in 2000 before subsequently going on to study nutrition and health psychology prior to her eventual modelling career.
Career
Career Beginnings (1997 - 2006)
At age 13, Miranda entered and won the 1997 annual Dolly magazine/Impulse model competition. She was flown to Sydney a week before her 14th birthday to shoot for the magazine. Upon Miranda's win, local media expressed "concerned outrage" at her young age. The controversy raised concerns about the glorification of young girls within the fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries.
Some media outlets claimed her Dolly shoot (including images of a 14-year-old Miranda in bathing suits) constituted a form of paedophilia. However, in relation to the photoshoot herself, Miranda later said, "In the media at the time they were trying to cling on to anything remotely to do with paedophilia. Dolly is a magazine for teenage girls, not for old men. And I was fully clothed! Doing a winter shoot! They just made something out of nothing".
Miranda signed to Chic Management's Sydney division around 1997, leading her to receiving commercial exposure after a series of beachwear ads predominantly for Australian surf chain, Billabong, in which she modelled surf brands, Tigerlily, Roxy, Billabong Girls, and One Teaspoon. In addition, Miranda was also the brand ambassador of Australia's most recognised swimwear brand, Seafolly. After modelling in Australia and Japan, Miranda subsequently relocated to New York City, where she acquired a minority stake in the Bowery Ballroom, a music venue.
In New York City, Miranda signed with Next Management and had a slew of runway appearances in early 2004. From there, she was booked for runway and print campaigns for labels including Alex Perry, Baby Phat, Lisa Ho, Voodoo Dolls, Levi's, Bettina Liano, Nicola Finetti, L.A.M.B., Heatherette, Betsey Johnson, Trelise Cooper, Jets, John Richmond, Blumarine Swimwear, Neiman Marcus, Anna Molinari, Rock and Republic, Roberto Cavalli, and Ober Jeans. Aside from this, she was also booked for print in magazines such as Elle Girl, Vogue Australia and Harper's Bazaar. Moreover, she also signed a contract with American cosmetics brand, Maybelline New York. In the meantime, along with several other Victoria's Secret models, Miranda was also featured in a music video for the single "Number One" by Pharrell featuring rapper, Kanye West.
Victoria's Secret & High Fashion Work (2007 - 2012)
Around 2007, following her success with Maybelline, Miranda became the first ever Australian Victoria's Secret Angel, joining models, Alessandra Ambrosio, Karolína Kurková, Adriana Lima, Selita Ebanks, Izabel Goulart, and Heidi Klum. Prior to this, she was already picked to become the successor of Alessandra Ambrosio as the face of PINK in 2006. In that same year, she also signed on as the face of Californian fashion retailer, Arden B .Aside from this, she also made a small guest appearance in the CBS sitcom, How I Met Your Mother alongside fellow Angels, Adriana Lima, Marisa Miller, Alessandra Ambrosio, Heidi Klum and Selita Ebanks.
In 2008, Miranda became the new face of the fragrance, Clinique Happy and signed a six-figure deal to be the new face of Australian department store David Jones, replacing model, Megan Gale. She also appeared on the cover of British Harper's Bazaar. Earning an estimated US$3.5 million over the previous 12 months, Forbes placed Miranda at No. 10 on the list of the world's top-earning models. Then, in June 2009, Miranda posed naked, chained to a tree, for an issue of Rolling Stone Australia to raise awareness for the endangered koalas. In October, Miranda launched her own brand of organic skincare products, KORA Organics with George Moskos, and became the face for the company. Aside from this, she also released an inspirational self-esteem, self-help book, Treasure Yourself. The book is aimed at female teenagers. She also shot a spring/summer ad campaign for XOXO and appeared in Forbes's 2009 list of the world's highest-paid models, ranking at No. 9 with estimated earnings of $3 million. Later on, she left Next to sign with IMG Models.
In 2010, Miranda appeared in the 2010 Pirelli Calendar, photographed by Terry Richardson in Bahia, Brazil. Previously better known for her Victoria's Secret status rather than her high fashion work, Balenciaga is credited for launching her high fashion modelling career when casting directors, Ashley Brokaw and designer, {{wp|Nicolas Ghesquière chose her to walk exclusively for the brand's spring 2010 runway show. It was her first fashion show for a high fashion designer. A season later, she walked for design company, Prada for their fall 2010 collection in Milan alongside fellow Angels, Doutzen Kroes and Alessandra Ambrosio. She then modelled for campaigns for Prada and Jil Sander, and was shot by Steven Meisel for the cover of Italian Vogue for the September issue.
In January 2011, Miranda became the first pregnant model for Vogue when featured in Vogue Australia, being six months pregnant at the time of the shoot. In March, she hit the catwalk for Balenciaga's fall 2011 ready-to-wear collection as part of Paris Fashion Week, two months after giving birth. In addition, she also posed nude for a 2011 Harper's Bazaar photo shoot, and in October at Paris Fashion Week S/S12, walked for Dior, Lanvin, Chanel, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Viktor & Rolf and Loewe. Aside from this, Miranda was also chosen to present the $2.5 million Victoria's Secret Fantasy Treasure Bra for their fashion show in November 2011, and was then featured in the Spring 2012 campaign for Bally alongside German model, Julia Stegner.
In January 2012, she was named ambassador for Qantas. Then, in March of that same year, she walked for Chanel and Miu Miu at Fall/Winter Paris Fashion Week. Moreover, she was featured on the June cover of Numéro Tokyo, shot by Nino Muñoz. In August, Miranda appeared on the cover of Vogue Turkey and in November, was named the new face of high street brand, Mango, replacing Kate Moss for its spring/summer 2013 campaign.
Reign
2012 Australian national referendum
On 20 September 2012, amidst longstanding grievances over Australia's ties to theUnited Kingdom, with whom it shares a common monarch and head of state in Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister of Australia Tony Abbott declared that a nationwide referendum would be held concerning the country's future, with the major options being to either retain the British monarchy, replace it with an republican form of government, or alternatively, install an Australian constitutional monarchy, a third option seen by many as a compromise choice between Australian monarchists and republicans. In the end, with 52% of the vote, the third option was ultimately chosen, which consequently sparked a surge of media interest into who would be the country's first "Australian-born" monarch to succeed the United Kingdom's Queen Elizabeth II.
Following up on the previous nationwide referendum, on 2 October 2012, a second nationwide referendum was held to determine the new Australian monarch, with the chosen candidate being a mixture of both veteran Australian politicians and the country's celebrities. In the end, following a roughly week-long period of several rounds of voting, the Australian model, Miranda Kerr emerged as the final winner, thereby confirming her as the new and most importantly, the first Australian-born monarch of Australia, whereas her predecessors have all been born in the United Kingdom, with a governor-general often being appointed in their stead to act as Australia's head of state. Soon afterwards, amidst subsequent preparations to welcome Miranda as the new Australian monarch, it was then announced that her reign would officially begin on 15 October 2014, at which point, Queen Elizabeth II herself would officially cease to become the Queen of Australia, while the country's governor-general, Peter Cosgrove would simultaneously step down from his position as well, in tandem with the change of head of state.
Inauguration as Queen of Australia
On 20 October 2014, five days into her new reign as Queen of Australia, Miranda's Inauguration ceremony as the new Australian monarch was held, with the chosen venue being the iconic Sydney Opera House. At precisely 7:30 AM, the Queen's convoy from the Government House in Canberra, her official residence as monarch, departed for the venue in Sydney, where following a roughly three-hour-long trip, the royal convoy was then welcomed at the Sydney Opera House by a contingent of soldiers from the Australian Army, whom proceeded to escort the Queen and her entourage into the building's concert hall, where former governor-general of Australia, Peter Cosgrove, along with prime minister, Tony Abbott and several government officials subsequently welcomed the Queen and her entourage.
Then, on 11:30 AM, after both Cosgrove and Abbott gave their respective speeches marking the occasion, the Queen, whom was dressed in a gold satin gown, proceeded to walk up to the stage towards Cosgrove whom, in a symbolic act marking the transition, handed the Queen a sash coloured in gold and yellow, Australia's national colours, and bearing the word "AUSTRALIA" in all capital letters, with the Queen's acceptance of it officially marking the end of Australia's period under the British crown, and henceforth, its new beginning as a fully independent country.
Personal Information
From 2010 to 2013, Miranda was married to English actor, Orlando Bloom. Prior to their marriage, the two had begun dating several years earlier, during which, in 2009, an infamous gang of thieves known as the Bling Ring broke into Bloom's house in the search for luxury brand clothing and jewellery, with the ringleader being reported to have particularly desired Miranda's Victoria's Secret lingerie. Nonetheless, a year into their marriage, Miranda gave birth to a son, Flynn, whom upon his mother's accession to the throne, subsequently became Crown Prince of Australia. However, by October 2013, it was reported that the couple had separated and intended to end their marriage afterwards, with the divorce coming into effect by the end of 2013.
Beginning in 2013, sometime in the final months of her marriage to actor, Orlando Bloom, in a largely secretive fashion, Miranda began dating fellow Victoria's Secret model, Stella Maxwell, whom is of Belgian nationality and seven years Miranda's junior. Initially, given the unconventional nature of their relationship, coupled with the media attention surrounding Miranda's divorce from her then-husband, the couple initially kept their relationship a closely-guarded secret before eventually publicising it just a day after Australia legalised same-sex marriage on 7 December 2017, with Miranda uploading a picture to her personal Instagram account showing her proposing to Maxwell.
On the night of 31 December 2017, a date deliberately chosen to time with the New Year celebrations the following day, the couple wedded in a private ceremony attended by their respective family members and fellow Victoria's Secret models. The ceremony, which lasted for roughly an hour long, marked the first time in Australian history where the country's monarch engaged in a same-sex wedding, with the couple themselves officially tying the knot at precisely 12:00 AM as fireworks around the country were lit up to mark the entrance into the new year of 2018. Consequently, with her marriage to the Queen being official, Maxwell subsequently became Queen Consort of Australia as the spouse of the Australian monarch, becoming the first LGBT individual to do so.
On 5 November 2019, it was announced by Government House that the Queen Consort had given birth to a son, Maurice Maxwell, whose father was never officially disclosed. In announcing the news, a spokesperson for the royal family stated that the Queen Consort, following her marriage to Queen Miranda, "had always envisioned of a slightly bigger yet unconventional family", hence her decision to give birth to a child of her own, with whose father, as per an alleged confidential agreement, agreeing not to have his identity officially disclosed so as to avoid media scrutiny. In the meantime, Miranda herself soon proudly welcomed her wife's newborn child, stating, "Aside from the fact that this will make our family a slightly bigger one now, it also meant that my beloved son Flynn will finally have a younger brother of his own, something that he'll undoubtedly be thrilled with all the way".
Titles & Honours
- 15 October 2014 - Present Her Majesty The Queen of Australia