King Charles begins Australia tour with church service

King Charles and Queen Camilla joined a church congregation in Sydney for a Sunday service on the first day of engagements during their tour of Australia.

It is the King’s first visit to Australia since he became the country’s head of state in September 2022 and is the biggest trip the King has made since starting cancer treatment in February.

Their six-day visit to the Commonwealth country will involve meeting political and community leaders, and also celebrating the nation's people, culture, and heritage.

They were joined by members of St Thomas' Anglican Church in northern Sydney for the service, which was officiated by the city's archbishop, the Most Reverend Kanishka Raffel.

The royal couple met some well-wishers after a crowd of a couple of hundred people - many who had queued since early morning - were allowed into the church precinct to speak to the royal couple after the service.

For most it was a snatched hello and a chance to hand over flowers or take a photo.

Lyn Tarbuck attended with her husband Bob, a republican, and her two King Charles spaniels. She said of the monarchy: “I think it’s joined forces – if we have a problem in Australia they will help us out. We are a very big country but small in population so the more help we get the better.”

Roslyn Durie, who saw the Queen on her 1980 visit to Australia, said she was "so emotional" after receiving "a good firm handshake" from the King.

Sandra Hall and her husband Peter were also there to greet the royal couple. Ms Hall said: “I shook hands with Camilla first and welcomed her to Sydney, then Charles came along. I said 'look, it’s a beautiful sunny day' - and he said 'it’s always sunny in Sydney'.”

Outside the church, a small but noisy group of about 20 protesters shouted “not our King".

They held banners, one reading "decolonise", and waved Aboriginal and Palestinian flags.

Wayne Wharton, an Indigenous Kooma protester from Brisbane, called out: "I charge you, I charge the King … with crimes against the sovereign nations of this country … of war crimes against our people."

"I do not recognise the illegal occupation of this country,” he said.

He had started with a megaphone but was told by police to put it down or face receiving a fine.

Also on Sunday, the King presented the New South Wales state parliament with an hourglass to celebrate the 200th anniversary of its upper house.

He also gave a speech to guests, in which he spoke of his "great joy" of visiting Australia for the first time as Sovereign, "and to renew a love of this country and its people which I have cherished for so long".

On Saturday, a rest day for the couple, an image was released of the King and Queen Camilla showing the royals after their arrival on Friday at Admiralty House, the official residence of Australia’s governor-general, who represents the King in the country.

The couple were said to be touched when Sydney Opera House, which can be viewed from Admiralty House, was lit up with a rolling projection of images of them.

The King's trip has been marked by his appointment to the honorary ranks of Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal, and Marshal in the three services of the Australian Defence Force.

Elsewhere, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, of which the King is a patron, has announced the launch of the King's Commonwealth Fellowship programme.

It has been developed in response to urgent economic, social, and environmental challenges affecting small island developing states.

"There is so much we can learn from one another as we work together within the Commonwealth to tackle the major challenges of our age and, as these fellowships do in small island developing states, to address them where they are felt most acutely," the King has said.

While in the Commonwealth country, the King's visit will include supporting environmental projects and a naval review in Sydney Harbour.

The 75-year-old monarch is also expected to meet two Australian scientists, Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer, who have carried out pioneering research on melanoma - one of the country's most common cancers.

There will be a reception in the capital on Monday to welcome King Charles, but the six state premiers - of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania - have said they are unable to attend.

A post on the Royal Family's X account said the trip would include the King addressing the Australian parliament in the capital Canberra.

The King's cancer treatment has been suspended while in Australia and during the trip's next leg in Samoa, where he will attend a Commonwealth leaders' summit.

The timetables for the royal tour do not include evening engagements, state dinners, or trips out late in the day.

A message on the the Royal Family's social media account said: "Ahead of our first visit to Australia as King and Queen, we are really looking forward to returning to this beautiful country to celebrate the extraordinarily rich cultures and communities that make it so special."