King Charles won’t stop Australia axing monarchy
As King Charles gets set to fly to Australia, a royal spokesman has claimed he won’t stand in the way of Australia dropping the monarchy despite his “deep love and affection” for the country.
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King Charles has revealed he won’t stop Australia from potentially axing the British monarchy despite his “love and affection” for the country ahead of a historic tour.
The 75-year-old monarch will jet off for Sydney on October 18 before visiting Canberra.
He will become the first British King to ever visit Australia when he and Queen Camilla arrive, and the first since the late Queen’s visit in 2011.
Ahead of his visit, the King is said to be adopting an “anti-confrontational approach” to Australian republican campaigners, the Daily Mail reported.
The Australian Republic Movement (ARM) wrote to Buckingham Palace to request a meeting with the King when he arrives in Australia.
And King Charles’ assistant private secretary emphasised the monarch’s “deep love and affection” for the country in response.
“Please be assured that your views on this matter have been noted very carefully,” Dr Nathan Ross, an aide to King Charles said.
“His Majesty, as a constitutional monarch, acts on the advice of his ministers and whether Australia becomes a republic is, therefore, a matter for the Australian public to decide.”
The ARM describes itself as “the peak body advocating on behalf of the Australian people for an Australian republic with an Australian as our Head of State”.
“The concept of having a monarch of Australia does not fit well with most Australians in 2024,” Nathan Hansford, co-chairman of ARM, said.
“We are such a wonderfully diverse nation that most people feel is not represented by a monarch.”
“Like his mother before him, it has always been the case that His Majesty The King feels that it is a matter for the Australian people,” a Buckingham Palace spokesman said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed he would not hold a referendum in his first term out of “deep respect” for the late Queen.
Australia last held a referendum on becoming a republic in 1999 in which 54.87 per cent voted against it.
It will be King Charles’ first trip to Australia since 2018 when he opened the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
He was also famously targeted by protester David Kang at an Australia Day speech in Sydney in 1994.
Kang, then 23, fired two blank shots from a starting pistol - but for a moment onlookers thought he had tried to kill the royal.
It comes after it was reported the King will continue his cancer treatment right up until he flies.
But the King’s doctors are said to be happy for him to briefly stop his treatment while he is in Australia.
He will resume treatment once he returns to the UK.
The King was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February following prostate surgery.
His trip with Queen Camilla will involve up to 10 engagements a day and only one rest day.
But sources said the King’s doctors have helped plan the 48,000km trip.
The monarch’s entourage will include a travelling doctor, which is standard practice for royal trips.
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