Date King Charles is likely to visit Australia

While no official tour has been announced the King has indicated he will try to attend one very special event.

There has been much speculation about if and when King Charles III will visit Australia.

A royal visit has been earmarked for October next year but it is not known which members of the royal family will attend.

The new king is said to be nervous about anti-royalist sentiment in Australia, which was compounded by the election of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a “lifelong republican”.

However, Mr Albanese appears to have softened his approach, swearing allegiance to Charles at his coronation and telling republicans a referendum on the matter is not “imminent”.

Now it appears that Charles could fast-track his visit to Australia to coincide with a new horse race in Sydney.

Queen Camilla, King Charles an dLady Gabriella Kingston at Royal Ascot (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP)

Racing NSW have named a new race after the monarch, the King Charles III Stakes, which will take place on the same day as The TAB Everest on Saturday, October 14 at Royal Randwick.

Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys met with King Charles III at Royal Ascot last week to get approval to name the new race in Sydney after His Majesty.

A source said: “The King said he is likely to be visiting Fiji and Samoa at a similar time and said he will try to make it work so he can attend the race.

“He knows his mother was the darling of the racing world and is keen to keep backing the sport to honour her memory.”

Sources say the King is keen to attend The TAB Everest on Saturday, October 14. (Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Charles was seen getting emotional at Royal Ascot after his late mother Queen Elizabeth’s horse Desert Hero won the King George V Stakes.

Zara Tindall, the King’s niece, said the moment was “bittersweet” because the family knew “how proud and excited our grandmother, the Queen, would have been”.

“But to have a winner for Charles and Camilla, and keep that dream alive, was incredible,” she said.

The late Queen, a dedicated owner and breeder of thoroughbreds, attended Ascot every year until the last year of her life when she watched the meet on TV at Windsor Castle.

She enjoyed 24 Royal Ascot winners across six decades and always proudly celebrated her horses.

While the Queen visited Australia many times, King Charles will be the first king to do so.

The Queen’s father King George VI did visit in 1926, but when he was the Duke of York.

And her uncle, Edward VIII, visited Australia in 1920 when he was the Prince of Wales.

Meanwhile, her grandfather toured the country in 1901 when he was the Heir to the Throne, after his father had to cancel following the death of Queen Victoria.

Queen Elizabeth II first visited Australia as Queen in 1954.

Originally published as Date King Charles is likely to visit Australia