King Charles III and Queen Camilla are currently carrying out their first tour of Australia since taking the throne, and despite a frosty reception by the country's government, enormous crowds of Australians have shown the royals a warm welcome Down Under.
Since Australia is a constitutional monarchy, Charles is the country's king, but growing republican sentiments ahead of his visit have made the situation...well, a bit awkward. Headlines leading up to the tour haven't been positive, with Charles getting snubbed by the country's state premiers, all six of whom declined invitations to meet with the royal couple. He was also publicly heckled by Australian senator Lidia Thorpe on Oct. 21, with Thorpe shouting, "You are not my king!" as Charles gave a speech to Parliament, per the New York Times.
However, even if some of Australia's leaders have anti-monarchist views, it seems many members of the public hold a different opinion about their King and Queen.
Australians waited for hours, some even arriving before sunrise to claim a spot outside the Sydney church where Camilla and Charles greeted fans on Oct. 20. GB News royal reporter Cameron Walker shared footage from the event on X, noting it was "Difficult to capture the scale of the crowds here in North Sydney, but more than a thousand people are estimated to be braving the heat for a chance to meet The King and Queen in person."
More happy crowds… this time in Canberra. Thousands line the route as the King and Queen walk from the Australian War Memorial to the For Our Country memorial. pic.twitter.com/xuzBZdteG8October 21, 2024
Crowds of people waving both Australian and British flags, as well as colorful handmade signs, can be seen in footage from the event, with Walker penning that fans outnumbered the "handful of protestors" at the event.
And huge numbers of people turned up to meet the King and Queen at the Australian War Memorial on Oct. 21, with the Sun reporter Matt Wilkinson sharing a video on X captioned, "More happy crowds… this time in Canberra. Thousands line the route as the King and Queen walk from the Australian War Memorial to the For Our Country memorial."
One Australian is such a royal fan that she went on national TV to show off her massive memorabilia collection over the weekend, telling Today that her home contained "well over 10,000 pieces" of royal souvenirs.
As for Charles's parliament snub, many Australian leaders have spoken out in defense of the King, like senator Ralph Babet, who said (via the Telegraph), "To show such utter disrespect to King Charles, who has traveled to Australia, despite ongoing cancer treatment, is disgusting. Senator Thorpe has disgraced not only herself and the Australian Parliament, but every Australian man, woman and child.”
