The King and Queen have jetted off from Sydney Airport, marking the end of their whirlwind two-city Australian tour.
They were farewelled by a small crowd of fans, as well as NSW Deputy Premier Prue Car, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Governor-General Sam Mostyn and NSW Governor Margaret Beazley.
The couple waved farewell from the steps of a Royal Australian Air Force jet before the plane taxied down the runway and departed about midday on Wednesday.
The King sported a grey suit, while the Queen wore a printed Fiona Clare dress.
They are en route to Samoa after spending four days in Sydney and a day in Canberra.
The royals had a packed itinerary during their trip, including a visit to Parliament House and the War Memorial in Canberra.
A reception for the couple in the capital was overshadowed by a protest from renegade Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe, who told the monarch “You are not my king” before being led away.
Refettorio @OzHarvest Sydney, an Australian-first, social impact collaboration between OzHarvest and Food for Soul, is a community hub created to meet the needs of those experiencing food insecurity whilst also preventing food waste.
🥫 As Patron of @UKHarvest , Her Majesty… pic.twitter.com/uCAcmRxzzT
— The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) October 22, 2024
In Sydney, the royals were logistically pushed to the brink on Tuesday, tackling visits to the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence, a food bank, a social housing project, a literacy initiative, a community barbecue, a meeting with two leading cancer researchers and a naval review.
Their itinerary in the harbour city included a visit to the Sydney Opera House, where thousands of people queued for almost a kilometre to get a glimpse of the royals during the biggest public event of their trip.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the visit, the King’s first to Australia since ascending the throne, was historic for the nation.
“Their Majesties met a range of extraordinary Australians who demonstrated the best of our great country,” he said, adding he looked forward to meeting the King again in Samoa at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The biennial meeting brings together 56 countries under the head of the Commonwealth, now the King following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth.
The gathering is expected to discuss climate change, the impact of colonialism and reparations.
In Samoa, the King will be offered the title of high chief and will be shown the impact of rising sea levels due to climate change in the Pacific island nation.
Lenatai Victor Tamapua, a Samoan chief and member of parliament, said he planned to offer the title of ‘Tui Taumeasina’ to the monarch during a traditional ceremonial welcome to the royal couple on Thursday.
He will later lead the King along a walkway on a mangrove reserve highlighting the impact of climate change on the Pacific nations and its communities.
“The king tide today is about twice that it was 20, 30 years ago, and that is affecting our land, and it’s eating away at some of the areas that are so hard for us to control, and people [have to] move inwards, inland now,” Tamapua said.
The offer of a high chief title came after protesters greeted the King with chants of “You’re on stolen land” and “No pride in genocide” when he met elders at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in inner Sydney’s Redfern on Tuesday.
Sydney really turning on the weather for Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla on the final day of their Australian tour 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/EvBEL8XGBa
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) October 23, 2024
On Wednesday, an Albanese government minister said it was time to move on from Thorpe’s protest.
“I think what she did was totally inappropriate,” Housing Minister Clare O’Neil told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“My suggestion now is we move on. No one can make her resign.”
Nationals MP Matt Canavan doubled down, saying he believed “most” Australians wanted Thorpe to quit.
“That’s the feedback I get talking to people … they’re aghast that someone in their nation’s Parliament would act like this and effectively embarrass the whole nation,” he told Nine’s Today program.
The five-day visit to Australia was the King’s first to an overseas realm as sovereign, his first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer, and the first visit by a British monarch in 13 years.
The King is head of state in Australia, New Zealand and 12 other Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom, although the role is largely ceremonial.
-AAP
