Royal visit Australia LIVE updates: King Charles, Queen Camilla to visit Australian War Memorial, Parliament House in Canberra

Nine News is covering the royal tour. You can watch their live coverage below:

Here’s a gallery of the festivities so far:

That’s all of our coverage for today on the visit of King Charles and Queen Camilla to Canberra, here are the key moments from today:

• The King and Queen made their way from Sydney to Canberra and made their way to the Australian War Memorial where King Charles met Hephner the support alpaca in the crowd.
• Several protesters were arrested outside the Australian War Memorial for refusing to comply with police direction. Most were not charged except a 21-year-old woman who faced the ACT Magistrates Court in the afternoon.
• Senator Lidia Thorpe yelled at King Charles and Queen Camilla during the ceremony at Parliament House, yelling after the King’s speech: “it’s not your last, you’re not my King, you’re not our kind”. Later, Thorpe rushed up to the King and yelled again. Thorpe also got into a scuffle with a police officer outside the Australian War Memorial
• Members of the public greeted the royal with joy and excitement, as crowds gathered outside every event.
• The most noticeable member of the crowd was Hephner the alpaca who was dressed in a gold crown and a bow tie.
• Their Majesties’ schedule was jam packed with a visit to the war memorial, a ceremony at Parliament House, a meeting at Government House and a visit to the CSIRO an Australian National Botanic gardens.

King Charles meets Hephner the Alpaca.Credit: Shane Wright

The King walked down a path of rocky stairs into the rainforest gully with Botanic Gardens head Dr Rebecca Pirzl. He held tightly to the rail and, at the bottom of the steep stairs, paused to touch a large tree and looked up into its canopy.

As the Queen made her way down the steps cautiously in her heels, the King spotted the waiting media and said, “What are you all doing standing there?”

He then told Dr Pirzl, “It’s extraordinary” while looking down the gully which features plants from the nation’s rainforests from Tasmania to Queensland.

The King and Queen walked along the lower boardwalk in the gully, Charles initially striding off quickly before Camilla called to him to slow down.

They paused for photos before making their way up more rocky steps to the tree planting location.

Queen Camilla and King Charles in the rainforest at the Australian Botanic Gardens. Credit: Getty Images

Lydia Thorpe is far from the first Aboriginal person to protest to a member of the royal family at Australia’s parliament house about the treatment of First Nations people.

That honour goes to an old Wiradjuri man named Jimmy Clements and his fellow elder John Noble, who trekked to Canberra across the mountains in 1927 to attend, without an invitation, the opening of Canberra’s first parliament house.

Theirs was a silent protest.

Yet when police tried to send them away, many citizens attending the event loudly demanded that the two men be allowed to stay.

Jimmy Clements at the opening of federal parliament in 1927.Credit: AFR

It led to Clements, otherwise known as “King Billy”, meeting King Charles’ grandfather, then the Duke of York, for a private discussion, the details of which have never been revealed.

King Billy and Noble - known as “Marvellous” - were Wiradjuri elders who lived at the Bungle Mission Station near Tumut and Gundagai. They decided that if Australia was to have an important new gathering place on the land of their ancestors, they had a right to be there.

They arrived barefooted outside the newly built parliament house. Billy had two dogs with him, and wore a jaunty, battered chimney-pot hat over long matted hair, his thin frame swaddled in a long overcoat.

Guests of honour at the opening of parliament house were the Duke and Duchess of York. The Duke later became King George VI, and the Duchess became Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother). They were the parents of Queen Elizabeth II, Charles’ mother.

A policeman took exception to Clements’ rough clothes and the dogs at his bare feet and told him to clear off, apparently thinking he would offend the Duke and Duchess, even if he was known as King Billy.

The crowd took the side of the old Aboriginal man, calling for him to hold his ground.
A prominent member of the clergy declared that King Billy had more right than any man to a place on the steps of Parliament, and the gathered citizens showered the old man with coins.

Clements won his prized spot on the parliamentary steps, and the next day he was among prominent citizens who were presented to the Duke and Duchess.

The Argus reported that “an ancient Aborigine who calls himself King Billy and who claims sovereign rights to the federal Territory walked slowly forward alone and saluted the Duke and Duchess. They cheerily acknowledged his greeting.”

Later, unreported by the newspapers, the Duke invited Jimmy Clements to a private meeting to discuss his grievances.

Jimmy Clements – aka King Billy – died on August 28, just months after his silent protest, and is buried in the Queanbeyan Cemetery. John Noble died in 1930, but was denied a burial in consecrated ground.

The protest by Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe made headlines for disrupting the reception for the royal couple in Parliament House, but the event continued smoothly once the Victorian senator was escorted out of the Great Hall.

Jess Fox, the kayaker who has won six medals at four Olympic Games, spoke to the King about her first games in London in 2012.

Olympic champion Jess Fox meets with King Charles.Credit: Getty

“He was very lovely, and I welcomed him back to Australia,” she said after the event.

Swimmer Ariarne Titmus spoke to Queen Camilla, who told her she had watched the Australian champion win gold at the Paris Olympics.

“She said she loves watching the swimming,” Titmus said afterwards. “I was actually very nervous to meet her – I love the royals – but she made me feel at ease, and it was honestly a once-in-a-lifetime moment,” she said.

Professor Karen Canfell of the University of Sydney, a leading researcher on cervical cancer, spoke to the King about the innovations in new treatments – an issue for the King as he recovers from cancer.

“He was also interested in the amazing treatments for melanoma which have been developed,” she said after the event concluded.

Most federal cabinet ministers were at the parliamentary reception, as were most Coalition frontbenchers and some members of the crossbench in federal parliament.

Earlier, Queen Camilla met the founder and beneficiaries of a charity platform that is one of her patronages.

GIVIT was founded in 2009 by Juliette Wright to offer an online platform that connects donors wishing to give money, time or goods with the charities that need them.

It has helped coordinate disaster recovery efforts including for the 2011 Queensland floods, 2020 Black Summer bushfires and 2021 NSW floods.

Queen Camilla has been a patron of GIVIT since 2020 and also a practical supporter – she donated towards school uniforms and supplies for children in bushfire-affected areas during Black Summer.

The Queen met Wright and GIVIT chief executive Chris Staines along with some staff and volunteers.

They met in the Banksia Centre at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, which was opened in 1982 and then again in 2020 by Tamie Fraser, wife of former prime minister Malcolm Fraser.

“Your attention on us is going to help donations flow,” Wright said.

“You were so tiny in 2020,” the Queen replied, recalling when she first got in touch with GIVIT. Wright said the operation had been based at her dining table at that time.

“I’m so glad I’ve been able to see you in person not just looking at you on a screen. It’s never the same as face-to-face,” the Queen said.

GIVIT staff explained to her their programs in disaster recovery and also supporting domestic violence services.

The Queen had changed outfits, now wearing a blue and white dress by UK designer Fiona Clare with two-toned cream and black court shoes.

She also met two of the organisations the platform works with: Fearless Women’s chief executive Glenda Stevens and Eurobodalla mayor Mathew Hatcher, who founded the Black Summer bushfire recovery group South Coast Donations Logistics Team.

Queen Camilla meets with GIVIT staff and volunteers.Credit: Getty Images

King Charles was led on a detailed tour of the Banksia Gardens at Canberra’s National Botanic Gardens by Beverly Ardler and Kain Ardler from the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community, as well as Dr Rebecca Pirzl.

Wearing dark glasses in the hot Australian sun, the King moved slowly through the display of Australian plants, asking questions and pointing out particularly interesting examples.

The Ardlers explained about the significance of banksia species to their community and how bushfires affect local ecosystems.

The botanic gardens display is the largest collection of Australian plants in the world.
The King was met at the entrance to the Banksia Gardens by Australian mining mandate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, with whom he spoke at length.

On his way out, he was met by students from Ainslie School. Leo Turner, 12, asked the King if he’d heard of AFL.

“Yes, I’ve heard of it,” the King said.

“What’s your favourite sport?” Leo asked.

“I can’t do much now. Too many injuries. I used to sit on a horse,” the King replied, before saying goodbye.

At the Australian National Botanic Gardens, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and branch head Dr Rebecca Pirzl greeted King Charles.

The gardens display the largest collection of Australian plants in the world.

The Queen spoke with 10 children, five from Ainslie Primary and five from Margaret Hendry school, who were doing activities with Australian native seeds.

Finn Hopkins-Weiss,12, explained, “The fire opens the seed pods and lets all the seeds out.”

Plibersek added: “That’s why we try to manage the fires so they’re not too extreme because the plants need it for regeneration.“

The Margaret Hendry students invited the Queen to join them in making seed pods that could be dispersed by the wind, but she declined, saying, “It would probably stick my fingers together.”

His Majesty toured the CSIRO’s National Bushfire Behaviour Research Laboratory, where he viewed a “Pyrotron” demonstration.

The seven-minute demonstration replicated a bushfire in a 29-metre long combustion wind tunnel.

The experiment is used to better understand bushfire behaviour and effective methods to suppress it, senior research scientist Matt Plucinski said.

The climate conscious King was invited to start the experiment as he met with researchers and CSIRO head Doug Hilton, receiving a briefing about quickly the fires could spread.

The eucalyptus smoke was “the smell of science”, Dr Hilton joked with the King.

Outside, an ACT Rural Fire Service engine doused itself during a “burn over drill”, demonstrating how firefighters stuck in the truck in the middle of a fire storm would survive the worst of the blistering inferno.

His Majesty was introduced to five volunteer firefighters before they started the drill, forcing his to take a slight step back as he was sprayed with a light mist due to the breeze.

“It was very encouraging to see what they can do,” he briefly told reporters as he left the site after the drill.

He asked the firefighters about the differences between bushfires in the northern and southern hemispheres, including comparisons with Canada.

It was King Charles’ second visit to a CSIRO Canberra site, the first being February 1966 when the young prince toured the wildlife research division.

King Charles III watches a fire demonstration at the CSIRO’s National Bushfire Behaviour Research Laboratory to learn about world-leading burn-over protection systems, and bushfire behaviour.Credit: Getty Images

Earlier at the Governor-General’s house, Queen Camilla attended discussions on family and domestic violence.

Domestic violence advocate Rosie Batty, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, journalist Jess Hill and academic Anne Summers were some of the people who attended the discussions.

Queen Camilla attends discussions on family and domestic violenceCredit: Getty Images

Batty said the Queen very much recognised domestic violence was an important issue to address.

Inman Grant spoke about how technology facilitated abuse, Summers discussed her research and the impacts domestic violence has on women’s employment, while Hill discussed coercive control with the Queen.

“I met her last time when she was here in 2016 for a round table discussion that we had around domestic violence back then and she recognised me and remembered me, and I was able to sit next to her which was a real honour,” Batty told this masthead.

“I told her it was 10 years since my son was murdered and our recognition of family violence is a lot better but change is taking a long time and unfortunately that recognition is putting strain on our crisis response services.”

A second request was made outside the Australian War Memorial this morning, as a 21-year-old woman was arrested for failing to comply with a police direction.

About 11.30am, police arrested the 21-year-old and she was conveyed to the ACT watch house where she was charged and she faced the ACT Magistrates Court this afternoon.

Several other arrests were made at the Australian War Memorial, however those people were later released without charge.

Senator Lidia Thorpe appears to have a scuffle with a police officer.Credit: Seven News

Earlier police confirmed a 62-year-old man was arrested however when he as taken to the ACT watch house he signed an undertaking to keep the peace and he was released without charge.

The recorded interaction with Senator Lidia Thorpe was also confirmed by ACT Police, as a spokesperson stated: “This morning, police spoke to a protest group near the Australian War Memorial. The group was directed to move on from the area and they complied with that direction.”

“No arrests were made and police consider the matter finalised.”