Just as King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at a barbecue picnic in western Sydney, the strains of the Jimmy Barnes anthem, Working Class Man, wafted mysteriously and humorously above the crowd.
As Barnsey rasped out the opening lyrics of the Aussie classic, Charles and Camilla greeted hundreds of invited guests in the punishing Parramatta Park heat. Muster dogs waited patiently atop barrels and a windmill slowly twirled above a pile of hay.
The community picnic, hosted by the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, and his wife Anna, was one of a string of quintessentially Australian engagements King Charles packed in on Tuesday – before he and Queen Camilla greeted a crowd of thousands at the Sydney Opera House – on the last day of their whirlwind six-day visit.
While declining to eat at the barbecue, their majesties tried their luck with pairs of tongs, bantered with surf lifesavers and looked on in amusement as sheep and ducks were herded by dogs around a scrambling media scrum.
The king also visited the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) and the Melanoma Institute, where he met the joint Australians of the Year, professors Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer.
At the NCIE the king was greeted by Aunty Beryl Booth, who had served his majesty 40 years earlier during another Australian tour, and she offered him a kangaroo pie. Charles then went into a private meeting with key Indigenous elders.
Outside a small group of protesters chanted “You’re on stolen land” and “No pride in genocide”. It was far from the dramatic heckling the king faced from Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe at Parliament House on Monday.
From there, King Charles joined Minns and the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, in touring an unfinished housing project in inner-city Sydney.
As Charles donned a hi-vis vest and hardhat, Camilla made her second visit to OzHarvest, where she accepted “the most prestigious order” ever bestowed by the Australian food rescue charity – the teaspoon. “I shall wear it with pride,” the Queen quipped with a smile.
The greetings and mingling continued at Parramatta, where their majesties met a laundry list of local celebrities and community members, including Australian cricketer David Warner and the original Blue Wiggle, Anthony Field.
The pair then had a turn on the surf lifesaver’s barbecue. The king slowly turned sausages and the queen struck the air with a pair of tongs as if inspecting a celestial object.
“They’re long, aren’t they,” his majesty mused, adding if he stayed on the snags any longer he “might ruin them”.
Turning to the uniformed lifesavers, the king inquired how the waves were in Coogee, to which he was asked if he was “going to come down and have a swim in his Speedos”. “Maybe another time,” Charles replied with a laugh.
His majesty praised the region’s multiculturalism in an address to the crowd, labelling Sydney “one of the most dynamic, enterprising and culturally diverse communities in the world”.
“It is no wonder, I think, that Sydney is world famous for its cuisine, whether it’s smashed avo, a pav or a cab sav, and that is what I hope has been on display,” he said.
Later, around 10,000 people lined the streets and packed into the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. Charles and Camilla watched primary school children perform a gleeful synchronised dance, joined a boat at Sydney’s Man O’War Steps and attended a Royal Australian Navy fleet review on Sydney Harbour.
The event largely went ahead without incident, aside from the arrest of Aboriginal man Wayne “Coco” Wharton, who was protesting the royal visit and attempting to serve a notice for the king’s arrest.
“You have no receipt, you have no agreement on the occupation of this country,” he shouted to the crowd. “You are a nation of thieves. You’re guilty.”
Elsewhere, enthusiasm for the monarch was in full swing. Cheering adults in faux crowns clutching Australian flags and bemused pets were among those squeezed into the Sydney Harbour forecourt.
Natalie Hulford brought her four-year-old dachshund, Captain Bigglesworth, who was dressed in a pup-sized fluffy crown and cape, while Rebecca Hegarty brought her six-month-old cat, Stormy, for the ride.
The royals steadily moved through the crowd, shaking hands with the public as “hurray” and “King Charles” chants echoed. “I love you,” one woman shouted, before a band started to play God Save the King.
Tilly Cooper, 13, from Sydney’s northern beaches, was ecstatic after shaking hands with the king. Jumping with joy, she squealed: “He took my flowers and he shook my hand! Camilla accepted my gift. This is amazing.”
The likelihood of another visit from the King wasn’t lost on some.
Queen Elizabeth II was the last reigning monarch to visit Australia in 2011, while King Charles visited most recently in 2018.
A year 6 student at Rose Hill public school knew the stakes were high.
“I’m really excited,” she said solemnly in the Parramatta Park crowds. “We may not even see him again.”
