Palace reaction to Aussie Premiers’ ‘snub’ revealed
Australia’s six state leaders’ “insulting” decision to skip an engagement for the King and Queen has made international news.
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Buckingham Palace will shrug off an alleged “snub” of the King and Queen by Australian state leaders ahead of their high-profile tour, according to an ex-senior royal aide.
Earlier this week, King Charles and Queen Camilla were caught up in the midst of an awkward situation just days out from their arrival Down Under, with the decision by all six Premiers to skip an engagement next Monday in their honour and send representatives instead making international news.
Monarchists have since hit out at the state leaders, describing it as “insulting” and “gesture-led politics”.
The Palace has not publicly commented on the issue – but privately, will it have rattled the royals?
According to the late Queen’s former press secretary, Ailsa Anderson, who worked closely with the monarch and senior royals including Charles from 2001 until 2013, it won’t have impact as it’s not their focus during this tour.
“They understand that people do have prior commitments – and the King and Queen will want to meet as many people as possible,” she told news.com.au during an episode of the Royal Exclusive show.
“It doesn’t have to be state leaders. It’s members of the public they will glean just as much excitement and interest over, so I don’t think it will rattle them at all.”
Ms Anderson, who travelled on numerous royal tours herself as a senior aide, added that these perceived “issues” during official visits rarely bother the royals – including the late Queen, who was once left waiting for hours for an official during an overseas tour in Africa.
“(It was when) she had the Royal Yacht Britannia, and the head of state was three and a half, four hours late – it didn’t rattle her, she just thought it was all part of the charm of the visit,” Ms Anderson said.
The former member of the royal PR team also admitted that the monarch and senior royals closely watch polls regarding their popularity ahead of tours – such as the recent Daily Telegraph survey, which found that one in four respondents had a more favourable view of the King than they did prior to his ascension to the throne.
“Of course they do, because they want to gauge the people’s mood,” Ms Anderson said.
“What you don’t want to do is enter a country where people don’t want you there, so (this Telegraph survey) will be an enormous boost.
“The King gets briefed on what’s going on from his media team and his private secretary – you need all the armoury in your Palace to be able to go out (on tour) and do what you need to do.”
The King and Queen will arrive in Australia on Friday, having a full rest day before undertaking in a number of engagements in Sydney and Canberra. They will then head to Samoa on a State Visit to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
“Obviously a major tour like this has a lot of planning in place, and I did the late Queen’s last tour to Australia in 2011, which was extraordinary,” Ms Anderson said.
“There’ll be meticulous planning for this, especially for (Charles’) first one to Australia (as monarch).
“He loves Australia, he absolutely adores it, he loves the Australian people – he’ll be really looking forward to it.”
Months of planning, including early trips to Australia by royal staff to help scope out stops on the itinerary, have gone into this visit – and the King is “absolutely hands-on” during the whole process, “as was the late Queen,” Ms Anderson said.
The King and Queen will have a rest day on Saturday to recover from the long-haul flight and are then expected to commence their tour on Sunday with a church service in Sydney.
The royals will be in the ACT on Monday, where they will visit the Australian War Memorial and lay a wreath for the fallen, and also pay their respects at the “For our Country” sculptural pavilion at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander memorial.
The royal couple will then head to Sydney, where they will review a naval fleet on Sydney Harbour and attend a community barbecue in Parramatta.
They’ll each also take part in separate engagements, joining local community groups for discussions on issues aligning with their charitable causes, before departing for Samoa on Wednesday.
Originally published as Palace reaction to Aussie Premiers’ ‘snub’ revealed
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