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The2024 royal tour of Australia byCharles III,King of Australia, andQueen Camilla took place from 18 to 23 October 2024. The visit was the first by a reigningmonarch to Australia in over a decade and the first by a reigning king. During the tour, the King and Queen undertook engagements in theAustralian Capital Territory andNew South Wales. This was Charles's 17thvisit to Australia.
Following their tour of Australia, Charles and Camilla also made a state visit toSamoa, in their capacity asKing andQueen of theUnited Kingdom,[1] from 23 to 26 October. In Samoa, the King attended the2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, his first asHead of the Commonwealth.
Charles's mother,Queen Elizabeth II became the first reigning monarch to visitAustralia in 1954.[2] She visited and toured Australia several more times throughout her reign, the last time being in 2011.[3]
Charles, then-Prince of Wales studied in Australia for six months as a teenager in the 1960s. During his 1994 solo tour of the country, Charles was shot at while on stage duringAustralia Day celebrations.[3] Charles's cancer diagnosis in February 2024 placed doubts on the prospects of the tour going ahead.[4] It was later announced that the tour would go on, albeit with several changes.[5] The tour was Charles's first visit to aCommonwealth realm since he became King following thedeath of his mother,Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.[6]
Ahead of the visit, the King adopted a new Australian flag to acknowledge his role as the country's monarch. It was approved on 30 August 2024 and used for the first time during this tour.[7]
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Charles and Camilla arrived inSydney on 18 October and were greeted byGovernor-GeneralSamantha Mostyn,New South Wales GovernorMargaret Beazley,Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese andNew South Wales PremierChris Minns.Sydney Opera House was illuminated with a montage of photos of the King and Queen on their previous visits to Australia in celebration of their arrival.[8]
The royal couple spent 19 October resting before beginning the full schedule of engagements the following day.[9]
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In the morning, the King and Queen attended a church service atSt Thomas' Anglican Church, where they were received byKanishka Raffel, thearchbishop of Sydney.[6] Later that day, Charles visited theNew South Wales Parliament to mark the body's 200th anniversary, where he presented theNew South Wales Legislative Council with a timer for debates. The King later held audiences with Governor-General Sam Mostyn and GovernorMargaret Beazley atAdmiralty House.[10]
Every time I return to the "Sunburnt Country", I am always moved by the hauntingly evocative cries of the Kookaburra, the screeching of the Galah and the warbling of the Magpie.[11]
Charles and Camilla spent 21 October inCanberra, the Australian capital. They were welcomed by a traditional Smoking ceremony at Defence Establishment Fairbairn.[12] They then visited and laid wreaths at theAustralian War Memorial and at the For Our Country Memorial, before attending the parliamentary reception in the Great Hall ofParliament House. Upon arrival at Parliament House, the King was met by theAustralian Federation Guard, who conducted a Royal Salute, withmilitary honours, before the King inspected the Guard.[13] The King then, as head of state, delivered a speech at the reception, as did Prime Minister Albanese andLeader of the OppositionPeter Dutton. None of the sixstate premiers attended the parliamentary reception.[14] After his speech, Charles was heckled by Aboriginal Australian SenatorLidia Thorpe, who accused him ofgenocide and shouted "you are not my king" and "this is not your land" before being escorted out of the reception.[15][16] Her comments were widely condemned by fellow politicians includingPrime Minister Albanese andOpposition leader Dutton, the latter of whom called for Thorpe's resignation, and received mixed reactions from indigenous leaders. Aunty Violet Sheridan, aNgunnawal Elder who was present at the reception, labeled Thorpe's comments as "disrespectful".[17][18][19] Thorpe was later censured by the Senate for her "disrespectful and disruptive" actions, disqualifying her from representing the chamber as a member of any delegation.[20]
AtGovernment House, the King met with the prime minister and leader of the opposition and revealed the newGreat Seal of Australia.[21][22]Later, the King visited the National Bushfire Behaviour Research Laboratory, while the Queen joined a discussion on domestic violence at Government House. The two then visited theAustralian National Botanical Gardens together.[23]
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The King and Queen spent the fifth day of their visit in Sydney, undertaking a variety of public engagements.[24] Charles began the day by visiting theNational Centre of Indigenous Excellence, where he met with a group of Elders and community leaders and took part in his second smoking ceremony of the visit.[25] He later visitedMelanoma Institute Australia, where he met skin cancer patients and cancer survivors.[26] Meanwhile, as the patron of UKHarvest, Camilla visited Refettorio OzHarvest and helped to prepare the lunch service.[27]
Later, Charles and Camilla attended a community barbecue in Parramatta, where they cooked and handed out sausages. The King and Queen then greeted crowds outside theSydney Opera House, and watched a dance performance performed by school children from schools in the Sydney area.[27] The King then conducted afleet review of theRoyal Australian Navy inSydney Harbour.[28] The fleet review also included a tri-service flypast by theAustralian Defence Force.[29]
The King and Queen were formally farewelled by an official party on the tarmac, which included Governor-GeneralSam Mostyn and her husband Simeon Beckett. Home Affairs MinisterTony Burke represented Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese for the royal couple's departure, while NSW deputy premierPrue Car represented PremierChris Minns.[30] The King and Queen departed Australia onboard aRoyal Australian Air Force plane, and travelled toSamoa to attend the2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting.[31]
The Australian Government marked the royal visit by making a A$10,000 national contribution toGreening Australia on behalf of all Australians.[32]
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Daisy Dumas, wrote inThe Guardian, that the royal tour showcased a modern and approachable monarchy, noting that the King chose hugs over handshakes. The King and Queen also approved of selfies, happily posing with schoolchildren outside the Sydney Opera House. Politicians in the New South Wales Parliament filmed him, a practice that would have previously been discouraged by royal attendants.[33]
BBC correspondent Sean Coughlan wrote that Senator Thorpe's heckling left the King "completely unruffled", with him seeing free speech as the "cornerstone of democracy".[34]
Reilly Sullivan wrote onSky News Australia that the King and Queen's visit to Australia "has proven the merits of our perfectly functional constitutional monarchy".[35]
An opinion poll conducted byRoy Morgan from 22–23 October, shortly after the royal tour, found 57 per cent of respondents believing Australia should remain a monarchy, while 43 per cent believed it should become a republic.[36]