Rain, wind greets King Charles and Queen Camilla as they touch down in Sydney to kick off landmark Aussie tour
King Charles and Queen Camilla have landed in Australia, but it wasn’t quite the reception they hoped for as they were greeted with wild wind and rain. Follow the updates.
It was a wet but warm greeting for King Charles and Queen Camilla as they landed in Sydney on Friday night, with the welcoming party including a 12-year-old cancer survivor and royal fan.
The King and Queen touched down in a Boeing 737 Royal Australian Air Force carrier around 8.20pm AEDT, shortly after heavy showers passed through Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport.
The couple were greeted by an official welcoming party that included the republican Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his partner Jodie Haydon, Governor-General Sam Mostyn, her husband Simeon Beckett, and NSW Governor Margaret Beazley.
NSW Premier Chris Minns was accompanied by his mother Cara, after his wife Anna became unwell at the last minute. Sources said the illness was not Covid but she wanted to take the precaution of not passing anything on to the King.
Twelve-year-old cancer survivor Ky Exelby, from Adelaide, realised a dream to meet his “favourite royal,” the King, as part of the welcoming party.
The opportunity for him to greet the royal couple arose through the Make-a-Wish Foundation, who flew Ky and his family to Sydney for the big moment. Ky’s big sister Charlotte, who donated the bone marrow that helped save his life when he was undergoing treatment, joined him in the welcome.
Ky presented a small bunch of flowers to Queen Camilla, who was dressed in royal blue, and the pair shared an extended conversation before the monarchs were whisked away in a motorcade.
The five-day trip is the couple’s first Australian visit since the King ascended to the throne in 2022 and the first by a reigning monarch since his mother Queen Elizabeth’s 2011 tour.
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Originally published as Rain, wind greets King Charles and Queen Camilla as they touch down in Sydney to kick off landmark Aussie tour
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