King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Sydney on Friday for the first Australian visit by a reigning monarch in more than a decade, a trip that has reignited debate over the country’s constitutional ties with Britain.
The iconic sails of the Sydney Opera House were lit up with images from previous royal visits to welcome the couple, whose six-day trip will be short by royal standards. Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which led to the scaled-down tour schedule.
Charles and Camilla were welcomed in light rain at Sydney Airport by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, New South Wales Premier Chris Minns and the King’s representative in Australia, Governor-General Sam Mostyln.
Victoria Jones/Shutterstock/Getty Images
Charles is only the second reigning British monarch to visit Australia. His mother, Queen Elizabeth IIbecame the first 70 years ago.
Although the welcome was warm, Australia’s national and state leaders want the royal family removed from their constitution.
Monarchists expect the visit to strengthen Australians’ bond with their sovereign. Opponents are hoping for a rejection of the concept of someone from the other side of the world being Australia’s head of state.
The Australian Republic Movement, which is campaigning for an Australian citizen to replace the British monarch as head of state, likened the royal visit to a touring act in the entertainment industry.
The ARM this week launched what they’re calling a campaign to “Waaf Farewell to Royal Reign with Monarchy: The Farewell Oz Tour!”
ARM co-chair Esther Anatolitis said royal visits to Australia were “a show coming to town”.
“Unfortunately, this is a reminder that Australia’s head of state is not full-time, but not Australian. He is a part-time person who lives abroad and is the head of state of numerous places,” Anatolitis told the AP.
“We say to Charles and Camilla: ‘Welcome, we hope you enjoy our country and good health and good mood.’ But we also look forward to the fact that this will be the final tour of a sitting Australian monarch and when they visit again soon, we look forward to welcoming them as visiting dignitaries,” she added.
Philip Benwell, national chairman of the Australian Monarchist League, which campaigns to preserve Australia’s constitutional ties with Britain, expects the response to the royal couple to be overwhelmingly positive.
“Something like the royal visit brings the king closer in people’s minds because we have an absentee monarchy,” Benwell told the AP.
“The king’s visit makes it clear that Australia is a constitutional monarchy and that the country has a king,” he added.
Benwell is critical of the premiers of all six states, who have turned down invitations to attend a reception for Charles in the national capital, Canberra.
The prime ministers each explained that they had more pressing commitments that day, such as cabinet meetings and travel abroad.
“It would pretty much be the prime ministers’ duty to be in Canberra to meet him and pay their respects,” Benwell said. “Not attending can be seen as a censure as this is not a normal visit. This is the first ever visit by a king to Australia.”
Charles was drawn into Australia’s republic debate months before his visit.
The Australian Republic Movement wrote to Charles in December last year requesting a meeting in Australia and the King to plead their case. Buckingham Palace politely wrote in March that the king’s meetings would be decided by the Australian government. A meeting with the ARM is not on the official itinerary.
“Whether Australia becomes a republic is a matter for the Australian public to decide,” the letter from Buckingham Palace said.
The Associated Press has seen copies of both letters.
The Australians decided in a referendum in 1999 to retain Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. That outcome is widely seen as a result of disagreement over how to choose a president, rather than majority support for a monarch.
After visiting Sydney and Canberra, which are 250 kilometers apart, Charles will then travel to Samoa to open the annual meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government.
When his mother made the last of her 16 trips to Australia in 2011 at the age of 85, she visited Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne on the east coast before opening the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the west coast city of Perth.
Elizabeth’s first grueling Australian tour at the age of 27 took in dozens of remote Outback towns; an estimated 75% of the country’s population turned out to see her.
Australia then had racially discriminatory policies that favored British immigrants. Immigration policy has been non-discriminatory since 1973.
Anatolitis noted that Australia is now much more multicultural, with most of the population being foreign-born or having a foreign-born parent.
“In the 1950s we didn’t have the global connectivity that we have now,” she says.
In February Buckingham Palace announced that Charles was being treated for a non-specific form of cancer, revealing that it was discovered while doctors were treating an enlarged prostate. After pausing public appearances for three months, Charles decided resumes royal duties in April.
In March, Kensington Palace reported that Charles’ daughter-in-law, Catherine, Princess of Wales, had also been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer discovered during abdominal surgery. Catherine announced this in September she had completed chemotherapy treatments, and “doing what I can to stay cancer-free is my focus now.”
