Next week, Australia will welcome King Charles III and Queen Camilla in what will be their first major overseas visit since the coronation.
The King and Queen land on October 18 and are due to attend engagements in Sydney and Canberra, before travelling to Samoa.
The Australian leg will mark the first time since Charles ascended the throne that he will visit one of the so-called Commonwealth realms, the 14 countries outside of the United Kingdom where the monarch remains head of state.
Watch the video above.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla, pictured wearing the Australian wattle brooch, will visit Australia from October 18. (Photograph by Millie Pilkington 2024)
It will be Charles’ 17th time in Australia, surpassing the amount of visits made by his late mother Queen Elizabeth II who first arrived in 1954 and returned a further 15 times.
The coming royal tour will also continue a long-standing relationship between the British monarchy and Australians, who have always shown loyalty to the Crown.
But it is also likely to reignite the republican debate which gained momentum most recently when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appointed an assistant minister for the republic soon after his election.
It was the first time a government MP had been given official responsibility for transitioning the country towards embracing a native head of state.
The move sparked anger as it came just weeks before Buckingham Palace prepared to host big celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year anniversary on the throne in 2022.
When Her late Majesty died in September of that year, talk of Australia becoming a republic were paused out of respect.
Plans for a referendum on the issue were then put on hold indefinitely after Australians overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give greater political rights to Indigenous people in a referendum held in 2023.
Charles’ time in Australia will be used to shore up support for the monarchy at home and abroad two years after becoming King.
In June 2022, the Jamaican government revealed its intent to become a republic by 2025. A year before, Barbados cut ties with the British monarchy and transitioned to a republic in a ceremony overseen by Charles.
The King’s visit to Australia is His Majesty’s first as sovereign and head of state and will no doubt be part of a charm offensive aimed at preventing Australians from wanting to break ties with the monarchy.
A successful visit can do wonders for the royal family’s popularity.
It will also be a major test of Charles’ stamina, being the most significant visit abroad since the 75-year-old was diagnosed with an undisclosed type of cancer in February.
His weekly treatment cycle will be temporarily paused during the royal tour of Australia and Samoa.
The King’s doctor will accompany him on the journey, which spans 11 days, including nine of engagements and two for travel on either side.
The itinerary has been scaled back on medical advice, allowing the King to rest after the long flying time, and to adjust to the climate.
But he and Queen Camilla are cramming in as many events as they can, including a meeting by the Queen with the Australian charity she is patron of, GIVIT.
Australia last received a visit by a member of the British royal family in 2018 when Prince Harry and Meghan toured for the Invictus Games.
Here is a look back at Charles’ 16 previous times in Australia.
1966: The first time Prince Charles visited Australia was as a 17-year-old schoolboy, spending two terms at Timbertop, the rural campus of Victoria’s Geelong Grammar School. After just three weeks there, Charles made the decision to stay on for six months.
1967: Prince Charles’ first official visit saw him represent his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at the memorial service for Prime Minister Harold Holt, who disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria. It was the largest gathering of world leaders in Australia’s history.
1970: The Prince of Wales returned with the Queen, his father Prince Philip and his sister Princess Anne to celebrate 200 years since Captain Cook’s arrival in Australia. They famously visited the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
1974: Prince Charles enjoyed the first of many swims at Bondi Beach and revisited Geelong Grammar while here to open the Anglo-Australian Telescope at Siding Spring in country NSW with then prime minister Gough Whitlam.
He also made a brief stop in Brisbane in early January 1974 as a serving officer on the Royal Navy Frigate HMS Jupiter.
1977: One of his most memorable moments in Australia came in 1977 when he joined Molly Meldrum on Countdown, in that now infamous appearance where Meldrum was incredibly nervous, much to the amusement of Charles.
Charles was in town as Patron of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Appeal for Young Australians.
1978: Prince Charles represented the Queen at the state funeral for Australia’s longest-serving prime minister, Sir Robert Menzies, in Melbourne.
1979: In perhaps Prince Charles’ most memorable moments in Australia pre-Diana, he was ambushed in the surf at Cottesloe Beach in Perth by model Jane Priest, who stole a quick kiss.
1981: The Prince of Wales visited in 1981 as a newly-engaged man. He was here to open the 50th Anniversary Convention of Apex Clubs of Australia. Charles once again swam at Bondi Beach, with some very memorable photos.
1983: The biggest royal tour to date by Prince Charles happened in 1983 when he brought his new bride Diana, Princess of Wales, and their 10-month old son Prince William to Australia and New Zealand. They arrived in Alice Springs in March for the start of a six-week tour that attracted unprecedented crowds.
1985: The Prince and Princess of Wales returned and visited Victoria to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Some of the highlights included Diana’s visit to a charity rock concert with Molly Meldrum and Flemington for the Melbourne Cup.
1988: Prince Charles and Princess Diana returned for the last time as a couple as part of Australia’s bicentenary celebrations, they famously danced together in Melbourne.
1994: Prince Charles was caught up in a shooting when a 23-year-old man fired a starter pistol at the royal as he prepared to hand out Australia Day awards in Sydney.
2005: He returned solo in 2005 just before marrying Camilla. His visit to Australia included Perth, Alice Springs, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and a special visit to Geelong Grammar.
2012: Prince Charles and his new wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, marked the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with a six-day tour that included Tasmania, Victoria, NSW and the ACT.
2015: The royal couple returned in 2015 and visited Adelaide, Tanunda, Canberra, Sydney, Albany and Perth, where they celebrated Charles’ 67th birthday.
2018: Prince Charles and Camilla’s final visit was in 2018 to open the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games with stops also in Brisbane, Cairns and the Northern Territory, and side-trips in support of efforts to help the endangered loggerhead turtles and the Great Barrier Reef.
Princess of Wales takes part in first public engagement since chemotherapy as she joins Prince William in Southport
The Princess of Wales has taken part in her first public-facing royal engagement since completing her chemotherapy.
Kate made a surprise appearance in Southport on Thursday (Friday AEDT), joining husband Prince William to visit the community rocked by a knife attack in July.
According to royal sources, the mum-of-three wanted to join the Prince of Wales to show her “support, empathy and compassion to the local community”.
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The couple held private meetings with the families of the three young girls killed in the frenzy, which took place during a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in the school holidays.
Prince William and Kate are understood to have spent 30 minutes with each of the families of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine; Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven; and the youngest victim, Bebe King, six.
The Prince and Princess of Wales also met with the dance class teacher and spoke with first responders, who William described as “heroes”, about their experiences of that day.
Following the visit, the couple shared a personal message on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, which was signed off with “W & C” to indicate it was written by William and Catherine.
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“We continue to stand with everyone in Southport,” the tweet said.
“Meeting the community today has been a powerful reminder of the importance of supporting one another in the wake of unimaginable tragedy.
“You will remain in our thoughts and prayers.”
Kate wore a brown long coat over a maroon pussy bow dress with white polka dots for the visit to Southport Community Centre, in England’s north-west.
Her recently lightened locks were worn in her usual bouncy blow dry and she kept the jewellery minimal, wearing Catherine Zoraida gold fern earrings.
We continue to stand with everyone in Southport. Meeting the community today has been a powerful reminder of the importance of supporting one another in the wake of unimaginable tragedy. You will remain in our thoughts and prayers. W & C pic.twitter.com/CP2DXJaqW2
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) October 10, 2024
Keeping in step with his wife, Prince William also donned deep red, wearing a knit between his white shirt and his charcoal jacket.
Just hours after the killings in Southport, Prince William and Kate had voiced their support for the victims and their families.
“As parents, we cannot begin to imagine what the families, friends and loved ones of those killed and injured in Southport today are going through,” they said in a joint message.
Their visit to Southport marked the couple’s first joint engagement since Kate’s 2023 Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey in early December of last year.
William and Kate, along with their three children, were also seen at Sandringham on Christmas morning heading to mass but that’s not considered an official engagement.
The Southport appearance marked one of the few times this year fans have heard Kate speak publicly, with the royal having only been seen publicly at Trooping the Colour and Wimbledon.
The Princess of Wales has had limited engagements since January, when she first went into hospital for a planned abdominal operation and doctors found her cancer.
Kate began treatment for an unspecified cancer in February and has slowly been returning to work following the end of her chemotherapy.
The 42-year-old announced her treatment was over in a video released last month and was seen for the first time last week, during a meeting with a young cancer patient at Windsor Castle.
The Princess of Wales is expected to ease back into public-facing royal engagements over the coming months.
It has already been announced her Christmas Eve carols TV special will return in December and the royal has been attending planning meetings for that.
She’s also been in planning meetings for her early years projects but has spoken publicly of having “good days and bad days” and it’s expected the royal will keep a flexible diary over the coming months.
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