King Charles visits Australia: Everything you need to know about the royal tour in Sydney and Canberra

King Charles III and Queen Camilla will land in Sydney on Friday for their first tour of a Commonwealth country since the monarch’s coronation.

The importance of the trip is underlined by the fact that King Charles will stop his cancer treatment to make the trip, but it also means the 75-year-old’s itinerary will be less busy than some of his previous 16 visits to Australia.

Only those in NSW and the ACT can attend public events.

After arriving on Friday evening, the royal couple will spend the weekend in Sydney before heading to Canberra.

Monday October 21

The first scheduled public engagement will take place from 12.35pm on Monday at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, where they will visit the For Our Country Memorial.

Those wishing to attend the meeting must arrive no later than 11:45 am to avoid road closures and allow for a security check.

People can see the royal couple at Parliament House from 1pm, with the public advised to arrive no later than 12.10pm to again take road closures and safety measures into account.

Tuesday October 22

The royals will greet the crowds on the Opera House forecourt at 4.20pm, while entry to the Sydney Opera House precinct will open from 3pm.

From 4.50pm, King Charles and Camilla will be visible on the Man O’War Steps, the historic jetty near the Opera House, as they assess the Royal Australian Navy fleet and Defense Force flyover.

The best vantage points to see this its Farm Cove, the Royal Botanic Gardens and Mrs Macquarie’s chair.

The roads will be closed from 3:50 p.m.

Other assignments

In other private activities, King Charles will tour the National Botanic Gardens on Black Mountain in Canberra.

He will meet with CSIRO scientists researching the impact of bushfires and environmental resilience.

Camilla will meet advocates against family and domestic violence and representatives from the organization GIVIT, which helps distribute donations to a range of charities.

After the fleet inspection, King Charles and Camilla will attend a communal barbecue.

Australians of the Year Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer will meet the King to discuss their world-leading research into cancer treatments.

King Charles will meet Aboriginal leaders to discuss culture and community.

Meanwhile, the Queen will visit a library in Sydney and meet students taking part in a series of writing workshops.

The couple will later attend another community barbecue in Parramatta, hosted by the New South Wales Premier, where local produce will be on display.

After his short visit to Australia, the king will fly to Samoa on Wednesday for the meeting of Commonwealth heads of government and return to Britain on October 26.

Previous visits

King Charles III has visited Australia sixteen times.

The first visit was in 1966, where at the age of 17 he completed two terms as an exchange student at Timbertop, Geelong Grammar School, in Victoria.

A particularly memorable incident occurred in 1979 when the then Prince Charles took a morning dip at Cottesloe Beach in Perth, but was surprised when Jane Priest, a bikini-clad 26-year-old model, grabbed his shoulders to plant a kiss. his cheek.

In 1983, he came to show off his newlywed wife, Princess Diana, while the Australians were in full-on Di-mania.

His most recent visit was in 2018, when he visited the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.

How is King Charles’ health?

King Charles was diagnosed with an unknown form of cancer in February after prostate surgery and has been receiving weekly treatment since then.

He will continue the treatment until he flies with his doctors, who are reportedly content to allow the treatment to be briefly interrupted while he is away.

He will resume treatment as soon as he returns to Britain.