King Charles III arrived in Australia’s capital Canberra on Monday, where he praised the country’s military contributions to past conflicts and is expected to highlight the importance of tackling climate change.
Charles, who announced eight months ago that he was being treated for cancer, is making a nine-day visit to Australia, the country of which he is head of state, and to Samoa, his longest foreign tour since his coronation in May 2023.
He was greeted with an Aboriginal greeting ritual in which smoke from burning endemic plants is wafted towards the king at the start of one of the busiest legs of his six-day tour of Australia.
After receiving several military honors over the weekend, the 75-year-old sovereign laid a wreath at the imposing Australian War Memorial, which commemorates Australian dead from two world wars and other conflicts.
Chloe Pailthorpe and her children traveled to Canberra from a small rural town nearby, hoping to catch a glimpse of the monarch. “I have been writing to members of the royal family since I was around ten years old,” she explains to AFP.
A 21-gun salute is then expected to announce the king’s arrival at Parliament, where he will address for the first time as head of state.
The rest of the day will be dedicated to causes close to the king’s heart: nature conservation and climate change.
Charles will visit a laboratory of the Australian public science agency dedicated to the study of bushfires which regularly ravage entire regions of the country.
Later, he is scheduled to view endemic flowers at the National Botanic Gardens of Australia and will discuss the impact of global warming on many of the country’s unique species.
– The “king of the climate” –
Charles has long been known for his ecological fiber, which sometimes borders on eccentricity.
He notably transformed an Aston Martin DB6 to run on ethanol, made from leftover cheese and white wine, and once admitted that he talked to plants to help them grow.
His plea, which has earned him the nickname “the climate king”, should find a strong echo in a country increasingly marked by fires and floods.
Several Australian state prime ministers will be absent from the king’s reception at Parliament House, suggesting the British sovereign no longer has the influence he once had.
Australians, while generally supportive of the monarchy, are nowhere near as enthusiastic about the British crown as they were in 2011, when thousands flocked to see Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Members of the British royal family have in the past made stays of several weeks in Australia to encourage support for the monarchy, with forceful parades through streets crowded with flag-waving subjects.
But this time, in view of the king’s fragile health, the program was reduced. Few crowd-pulling events have been planned, apart from a giant barbecue in Sydney and an event at the city’s opera house.
