King Charles III and Queen Camilla did not skip Sunday service this October 20, 2024, although they are on the other side of the Earth. The King of Australia went to the service, in an Anglican church in Sydney, to make his first official outing since his arrival in Australia on Friday evening.
Read also: King Charles III visits his southern kingdom and marks the history of the monarchy in Australia
King Charles III makes his first official outing in Australia
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in Sydney in the evening, this Friday, October 18, 2024. The royal couple, disturbed by the time changes, were entitled to a full day of rest to acclimatize. This Sunday, October 20, after a day spent at Admirality House, the residence of the Governor General of Australia, the official program began with a visit to an Anglican church in Sydney, at service time.
King Charles III is making his first ever visit as King of Australia since his ascension to the throne. Charles III makes history by becoming the second monarch to visit Australia during his reign, after his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. Charles first set foot in the country in 1966 for a semester of school exchange near Melbourne. He has visited this country of 26.5 million inhabitants many times, so much so that this trip is already his sixteenth official visit to Australia.
Read also: King Charles III calls the King of Malaysia before their meeting in Samoa
Anglican Church leader attends Sunday service in Sydney
King Charles III is the king of the United Kingdom but also of 14 other countries, including Australia. In addition to being the head of state of 15 countries, Charles succeeded his mother as head of the Commonwealth organization, whose next major meeting will take place in Samoa, in her presence, in the coming days. King Charles III, as British sovereign, is also the supreme governor of the Church of England, the head of the Anglican religion.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla treated themselves to a crowd bath when they appeared in the heart of Sydney this Sunday morning. Sydney, the state capital of New South Wales, has a population of around 5.5 million. Later this Sunday, the sovereign and his wife are expected at the New South Wales parliament, where Charles III will deliver his first official speech since his arrival in Australia.
In front of St Thomas Anglican Church, hundreds of Australians gathered in the hope of being able to greet the king and queen. King Charles III shook hands and expressed his joy at being visiting the country, then rushed into the religious building for the service. In Australia, the Church of England changed its name to the Anglican Church of Australia in 1981. Its primate is Geoffrey Smith, the Archbishop of Adelaide. After the service, King Charles signed a Bible as a memento of his visit.
The Australian constitution prohibits the government from establishing a state religion. According to the latest 2021 census, 39% of Australians are not tied to any specific religion. The leading group of believers remains Christians, although this religion is in clear decline with each new census. Nearly 44% of Australia’s population identifies as Christian, with around 10% being Anglican and 20% Catholic, with the rest being mainly other Protestants. In 2021, more than 2.5 million inhabitants practiced a non-Christian religion, or more than 600,000 people compared to the previous census of 2016. More than 800,000 Australians are Muslims, followed by Hindus with 684,000 practitioners, Buddhists who number 616,000 and Sikhs who number 210,000.
Nicolas Fontaine
Editor-in-chief
Nicolas Fontaine has been a designer-editor and author for numerous Belgian and French brands and media. A specialist in royal family news, Nicolas founded the site Histoires royales of which he is the editor-in-chief. [email protected]
