King Charles Coronation guest Nick Cave handpicked by Anthony Albanese disappears from group photo

One of Anthony Albanese’s hand-picked coronation guests has disappeared from a group photo taken ahead of the big day, leaving guests perplexed.

Veteran goth rocker Nick Cave was absent from the group photo, despite a reporter claiming he was present at the pre-Coronation event.

“I cannot explain why Nick Cave entering and exiting the event chose not to be filmed or captured during these moments,” political reporter Jonathan Lea tweeted.

In the photo, which appears to have been taken in a stately sitting room, the prime minister stands proudly among most of his guests.

Australia’s Governor-General David Hurley and his wife Linda stood in the front row, while football star Sam Kerr stands to the Prime Minister’s left.

“I am proud that this incredible group of Australians are representing our country at the coronation of King Charles III,” Albanese captioned the group photo.

However, eagle-eyed Twitter users quickly noticed Cave’s absence.

“Where’s Nick?” several people asked.

In 2017, Cave was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for outstanding services to the performing arts, both nationally and internationally.

The Australian musician explained that his decision to attend the coronation had less to do with his political affiliations than with his love of pageantry.

“I am not a monarchist, nor a royalist, nor am I a staunch republican for that matter,” he wrote on his personal blog The Red Hand.

“Whatever I am not is so spectacularly incurious about the world and the way it works, so ideologically committed, so damned moody, that I am an invitation to what will more than likely be the most important UK historical event of our time , refuses. .

“Not only the most important, but also the strangest, the weirdest.”

In response to a fan asking why the hell would he come, he shared the story of his one encounter with the late Queen – revealing he was surprised he cried while watching her funeral on TV.

Cave said the Royal had seemed almost “alien” and was one of the most charismatic women he had ever met.

“Maybe it was the lighting, but she really glowed,” he wrote of the Queen.

Cave is one of more than a dozen Australians invited to attend the King’s coronation.

People like former Secretary of State Julie Bishop are joined by 18-year-old Tayla Green-Aldridge, a graduate of the Prince’s Trust Australia Get Into Maritime course.

Ms Green-Aldridge, a Wiradjuri and Yuin woman who will be flying to the UK with her mother, will experience her first time outside Australia, and her first time on an aeroplane.

Mr Albanese has urged Australians to put aside debates over constitutional arrangements ahead of King Charles’s coronation.

He met the King’s eldest son, Prince William, at Kensington Palace on Thursday before addressing a contingent of Australians invited to the event.

“You are representing Australia at an incredible event of historic significance,” the Prime Minister told the hand-picked delegation.

Governor General David Hurley and state governors are also in attendance.

“Regardless of what Australians think about constitutional arrangements – and we will have different views on that – as a nation we must celebrate who we are and respect our institutions,” Albanese said in his speech.

“And there’s such tremendous respect for the royal family.”

Although a Republican, the prime minister has said he looks forward to being at the coronation ceremony.

“One of the things I certainly admire about King Charles and the Prince of Wales continuing that tradition is their concern for the future,” Albanese said.

“Their concern and outspoken views on climate change, on the need to protect our planet, on the urban environment, on a whole range of issues including respect for Indigenous Australians, hence the Palace’s request – which was well received by a government such as mine – was so heartwarming.’

Mr Albanese told Prince William that he and other members of the royal family were welcome to visit Australia at a time of his choosing.

Earlier on Thursday, the prince and his wife Kate made their first journey on the London Underground’s Elizabeth Line, named after William’s late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

Mr Albanese said the Queen had been “a constant, reassuring presence in our lives…

“Some of us have chosen public life as something I think is a very honorable profession. But for the royal family, they were born into it. And they serve as their duty, but also because of their dedication to their nation, but also to the Commonwealth, of which Australia is an important part.”

Jasmine Coe, a Wiradjuri-British artist, will travel to Westminster Abbey and is known for her work as the creator and curator of Coe Gallery – the UK’s first and only Aboriginal art gallery.

Dr. Daniel Nour, founder of Street Side Medics, a not-for-profit, GP-led mobile medical service for those experiencing homelessness, and youth advocate and Rhodes Scholar Yasmin Poole are also on the list of participants.

London-based nurse Emily Reegan will also be attending the event. She worked for the NHS in the emergency department during the height of the Covid pandemic.

Other attendees include Minette Salmon, who is studying a PhD in genomic medicine and statistics at Oxford, and Claire Spencer, who is recognized for her contribution to the performing arts.

Professor Merryn Voysey, who helped develop the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and was named Australian of the Year in the UK in 2022, and leading soprano Yvonne Kenny will also be in attendance.

Corporal Daniel Keighran, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for Australia for his efforts in Afghanistan in 2010, and Richard Joyes CV, who was awarded the Cross of Valor in 2003 for rescuing victims of the 2002 Bali bombing, are also invited.

The coronation starts at 11am in the UK on Saturday, which is 8pm AEST.