King Charles & Queen Camilla - Visit to Australia and Samoa: October 2024


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Did you see the lama meeting the King in the crowd Iluvbertie … an animal lama, not a person who is a Buddhist Lama …with his hair all fluffed up, wearing a gold crown, gold bow tie and dinner jacket.

He sneezed on Charles.

This very placid creature visits hospitals and hospices etc. He and his humans got an interview after his Royal encounter.

Charles had to pull out his sunglasses for the walkabout the day is so dazzling. Looks like thousands of people at the War Memorial.

Cannons firing on the lawn at Parliment House.
 
The coverage is now moving to Parliament House where they will arrive shortly.

It isn't a long drive from the War Memorial to Parliament House and it is possible to see one of the buildings from the other. From the PM's office it is possible to see the War Memorial and that is deliberate - to remind the PM of the possible consequence of a poor PM decision.

They are now pulling up at Parliament House and they will have a formal greeting including a full 21 gun salute. The PM and GG are both there to greet them with their partners.

I will return to watching and report on their next doings shortly.

Sun Lion said:
Did you see the lama meeting the King in the crowd Iluvbertie … an animal lama, not a person who is a Buddhist Lama …with his hair all fluffed up, wearing a gold crown, gold bow tie and dinner jacket.

He sneezed on Charles.

This very placid creature visits hospitals and hospices etc. He and his humans got an interview after his Royal encounter.

Charles had to pull out his sunglasses for the walkabout the day is so dazzling. Looks like thousands of people at the War Memorial.

Cannons firing on the lawn at Parliment House.
Click to expand...
Saw that - and the man in the crown with the coat and Charles III Christmas Decoration as a 'medal'. I have one of those decorations but for EII not CIII.
 
Iluvbertie said:
Saw that - and the man in the crown with the coat and Charles III Christmas Decoration as a 'medal'. I have one of those decorations but for EII not CIII.
Click to expand...
I love there is a place for this silliness in these things, this human touch amongst all the formality.

An interesting comment about the way the lawn goes over the top of Parliament House … so the people of Australia can be above their politicians.

So many people here too.
 
Now that they are actually inside the Parliament House they are signing the Visitor's Book - not sure about the desk but I wonder whether it has been brought down from a higher level and is the one that Queen Victoria sat at to sign the Act of British parliament that created the Constitution of Australia (looks like it to me to my fading memory of that desk ... but no doubt will be corrected if I am wrong).

They are now moving to the reception that the State Premiers decided to skip.

As for what happened outside - the Federation Guard did Australia proud with the way they greeting the King and Queen. He inspected the Guard and both the Royal Anthem and the Aussie National Anthem were played.

He was also 'introduced' by the GG to a number of dignitaries - many of whom he has met before.

There is a growing crowd waiting outside Parliament House waiting to see them when they do come out.

Sun Lion said:
I love there is a place for this silliness in these things, this human touch amongst all the formality.

An interesting comment about the way the lawn goes over the top of Parliament House … so the people of Australia can be above their politicians.

So many people here too.
Click to expand...
Have taken many school groups to Parliament House and they would love to 'roll down' the grass to show their attitude to the politicians (some of the boys suggested something else of course - as you would expect from 14-15 year old boys).

It is a fantastic building and well worth the visit - and if parliament is sitting a chance to see the pollies at work. Due to when it was built there is also an 'education' room for each House where children can be taken and have what is happening explained to them without disturbing parliament as the rooms are sound-proof.
 
Back here in Sydney they are having a rehearsal for tomorrow’s Naval Review … four fighter jets just blasted across the sky in formation.

(Or are they heading down to Canberra?)

Wonderful scenes from the official Reception.
 
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Must be so wonderful to be so close to where they are staying. Sadly living in western Sydney not possible to get there and stand for so many hours (did that in 1970 at Armidale airport, just after having had my appendix out and had the pleasure of meeting the Queen and again in 1983 to see Charles and Diana and again in 1988 to see The Queen and Philip and of course a number of times in the UK- 2005, just days after the bombing, 2008, 2015, 2016 and again in 2018)

Great speeches by both the PM, the Opposition Leader and the King.

Loved Mr Dutton's comment - that the suits had been cleaned, shirts ironed and something about ties - and that 'was just by the republicans'. He was very much praising the British heritage of Australia.

The PM was more on the King's lengthy association with us and the Commonwealth.

The King commented on his school days, and the various disasters that we have experienced and how we have come together at those times. He also said it was climate change that caused these.

Sadly a protester (a Senator who I won't name) got close enough to attempt to disrupt the proceedings but she was quickly removed.

Charles is having a lovely time meeting a number and range of Aussies from across the nation representing the best of this great country.
 
Iluvbertie said:
Great speeches by both the PM, the Opposition Leader and the King.

Sadly a protester (a Senator who I won't name) got close enough to attempt to disrupt the proceedings but she was quickly removed.

A lot of Charles' speech was on modern issues - climate change in particular.
Click to expand...

So many people at that Reception Iluvbertie, what a gathering.

The crowds are being reported as still building outside.

Things are a quite a bit behind schedule due to the lengthy public interaction at the War Memorial.
 
It was a lovely reception and I don't think the State Premiers were missed.

Now he is greeting a lot of school kids who are inside parliament house so I suspect local schools were asked to send representatives (not something unusual - in 1970 when I meet the Queen at Armidale airport all the school captains and vice-captains in all the local schools for around 200 miles were invited to the garden party and were formally presented to the Queen).

They will be moving outside shortly to greet the public and then to Yarralumla (the press are calling it Government House but it is formally called Yarralumla and is the Canberra home of the GG. If they stayed overnight in Canberra this is where they would stay) for some events there with formal audiences by The King with the PM and Leader of the Opposition and Camilla having some time with domestic violence charities in Canberra.
 
Video of the moment the King met Hephner during the walkabout this morning at the War Memorial.

It has now been clarified that this good-looking fellow is not a lama, but is actually an alpaca.

 
Iluvbertie said:
Have taken many school groups to Parliament House and they would love to 'roll down' the grass to show their attitude to the politicians (some of the boys suggested something else of course - as you would expect from 14-15 year old boys).

It is a fantastic building and well worth the visit - and if parliament is sitting a chance to see the pollies at work. Due to when it was built there is also an 'education' room for each House where children can be taken and have what is happening explained to them without disturbing parliament as the rooms are sound-proof.
Click to expand...
This has become something of a widespread tradition nowadays as so many senior schools right across Australia orgnise a trip down to Canberra, and funnily enough the kids ALL do the same thing and try rolling down the grass!!
 
shady lady said:
After all the lovely posts from Australia, unfortunately there is this:

www.bbc.co.uk

Not my King, Australian senator shouts at Charles

Senator interrupts ceremony in Australian capital city of Canberra on the second official day of royal engagements.
www.bbc.co.uk

This has more info about what she actually said.

Click to expand...
Well, it was expected ...
 
shady lady said:
After all the lovely posts from Australia, unfortunately there is this:

www.bbc.co.uk

Not my King, Australian senator shouts at Charles

Senator interrupts ceremony in Australian capital city of Canberra on the second official day of royal engagements.
www.bbc.co.uk

This has more info about what she actually said.

Click to expand...

It’s okay shady lady. This is one of Australia’s Senators and we’ve all seen her rolling around on the ground in Canberra … can’t remember why she did that, quite a carry on … and no-one here worries about her anymore. Several nonsensical attention-seeking stunts. Poor woman.

Tomorrow’s community BBQ in Parramatta is feeding five hundred people and some of those supplying the produce were on tv this morning.

The food looks and sounds good. (Well, all except any dried chicken feet!)

 
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That particular Senator has got a credibility problem among many (not all) Australians, especially some of the indigenous communities, so needs to make a stir to keep herself relevant. I won't go into it here, if anyone is interested then its best to google her! :flowers:
 
Thanks both for explaining. I'm all for the right to protest peacefully, but that was something else!!!!

The chicken video did make this vegetarian laugh ;) I'm all for the right for people to choose to eat meat too, I did it for over 50 years!
 
It's the headlines of the news here. If she wanted attention, she's got it. I'm just reading her Wikipedia entry.

On 16 April 2023, footage emerged of Thorpe in a verbal altercation with men outside a Melbourne strip club.[61] Thorpe claimed the men provoked the altercation,[62] while the manager of the club claimed she provoked the incident by approaching white patrons and telling them they had stolen her land.

In December 2021, following a fire that damaged the Old Parliament House in Canberra, Thorpe was criticised for tweeting "Seems like the colonial system is burning down. Happy New Year everyone #AlwayswasAlwayswillBeAboriginalLand".
In December 2021, Thorpe interjected to Liberal senator Hollie Hughes "at least I keep my legs shut", during a Senate discussion about people living with disabilities.
On 20 October 2022, Thorpe resigned from her position as Greens' deputy leader in the Senate, shortly after ABC News revealed that in 2021 she had dated the ex-president of the Rebels outlaw bikie gang, Dean Martin.
Firebrand senator Lidia Thorpe’s estranged father has given an extraordinary interview, where he says his proudly Indigenous daughter is “a very racist person”.
Roy Illingworth has told Andrew Bolt on his Sky News programme he’s “disappointed” by how his controversial daughter had abandoned her English and Irish roots.

Hmm.
 
shady lady said:
After all the lovely posts from Australia, unfortunately there is this:

www.bbc.co.uk

Not my King, Australian senator shouts at Charles

Senator interrupts ceremony in Australian capital city of Canberra on the second official day of royal engagements.
www.bbc.co.uk

This has more info about what she actually said.

Click to expand...
I'm all for peaceful protest but am also glad she was escorted away by security!
 
For anyone who is interested, on Sky News UK they will be speaking to the woman responsible for the outburst shortly.
 
Helicopter overhead a few moments ago … 7.20 pm … letting us know the King and Queen are back in the suburb. And returning to a freezing cold wind.

There was a rehearsal on the Harbour today for tomorrow’s Fleet Review, footage of various vessels on the evening news.

Hephner the alpaca is becoming quite a star … first thing mentioned about today’s activities.
 
Yes, Lydia Thorpe is a hot-head, a loose cannon and a fire-brand. It’s all very easy to dismiss her as an irritation and distraction. However, in all fairness I’d just like to point out that she is also a credentialed Senator and therefore she had every right to be present in the Great Hall today, as Parliament is her workplace.

The failure of The Voice referenda earlier was no doubt a huge disappointment to her as it was to many other indigenous Australians, and that has fuelled her actions today.

It is also true that indigenous Australians have not been given their full rights in Australia, very often having been treated extremely unfairly in colonial times, plus earlier in the 20th century (Stolen Generation), and right up to the present day.

Senator Thorpe probably enunciated today what many First Nations people feel in their hearts and their souls. I’d also like to point out that Australia is alone among Commonwealth realms as never having signed a treaty with its original inhabitants.

People will no doubt say, ‘What has Charles to do with all these past events’? And as a (compassionate) individual of course he does not bear individual blame for any of it. However, it is what he represents as the Monarch of Australia, and all the past actions from King George III’s time though the 19th, 20th centuries and this century that have been done in the monarchy’s name which would have been in Senator Thorpe’s mind when she spoke out today.
 
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