How a single photo of an Aussie model stealing a kiss from Prince Charles sparked a global sensation – and changed the future king’s image forever

It’s the coastal kiss that sent shockwaves around the world and is still talked about 45 years later every time King Charles visits Australia.

Charles was one of the world’s most eligible bachelors when he visited Cottesloe Beach, in Western Australia, as part of a royal tour commemorating the 150th anniversary of the British settlement Down Under in 1979.

The 30-year-old heir apparent made the most of the seaside stopover by hitting the surf in his trucks when local beauty Jane Priest swooped in for a kiss.

The moment, caught on camera, was on the front page of newspapers around the world and catapulted the 26-year-old single mother and part-time model to international fame.

The photos of the then Prince of Wales, wearing nothing but his slippers and a broad smile, also did wonders for his image at home in England.

And that was just the idea.

Ms Priest has since revealed that the entire meeting was a carefully staged ‘publicity stunt’ designed to make the young prince seem more approachable.

Although it looked like an impromptu peak on the cheek, she had actually been summoned to meet the Charles the night before the meeting to ensure she fit in as an attractive, young, fun-loving Australian.

“It’s only when I see pictures of Charles that it all comes back,” she told the London newspaper Evening Standard in 2004.

“I was in my mid-twenties, here was one of the most powerful men in the world and he was absolutely adorable. I was totally blown away by those few minutes.

“My meeting with Charles on the beach was not my suggestion, it was theirs.

“It was a PR thing to make Charles more accessible.”

Mrs Priest revealed she made her now famous move on the prince while her five-year-old son Simon was building sand castles on the beach just meters away.

But not everything went according to plan.

Jane Priest, a single mother in her mid-twenties at the time, jumped at the chance to kiss the future king, despite his protests at the time

“It was a set-up photo of the Prince of Wales meeting an Australian resident, but he threw a spanner in the works,” she told the Evening Standard.

Although she had her hair and makeup done especially for this moment, knowing it would be captured on film, the shy prince decided to play hard to get.

“When he saw me he dived into the water so I thought I was going to follow him in, but when I went in he got out,” she said.

“So I followed him out, with messed up hair, messed up makeup, and I felt like such an idiot.

‘I actually went to put my hands on his chest to give him a kiss and Charles said, “No, I can’t touch you, I can’t touch you.”‘

Her stunning looks graced the cover of Australia’s Playboy in the early 1980s and she has since semi-retired to do occasional TV commercials and other work.

Now 71, she lives a quiet life in a sandstone mansion fit for a princess in Sydney’s northern suburbs, while her son is a scientist.

Ms Priest suggested the photo had been staged in an attempt to make the then Prince of Wales appear more approachable

Ms Priest, now 71, reminisced about the 2004 photo when she admitted she would never become ‘Queen Jane’ because her ‘background wasn’t clean enough’

Charles returned to Perth in 2015 for another tour, joined by his now wife Camilla.

The soon-to-be king alluded to the secret kiss when asked to share his warmest memories of the city.

“These memories are of enormous importance to me, and also all the memories of all the kindness you showed me, and the fun I had in this part of the world,” he said.

‘Memories of swimming along the beach very early in the morning, when one or two people were turned away to run up from the surf and do untold things to me.’

Charles arrived in Australia on Friday for his first official visit since becoming king in September 2022

Ms Priest also reminisced about 2012, when she admitted she would never be ‘Queen Jane’.

“Aside from everything else, my background wasn’t clean enough,” she said.

King Charles landed back in Australia on Friday for the first time since his coronation in 2022.

He will tour Sydney and Canberra and meet supporters and leaders during the five-day tour.