King sounds clarion call to Australians on the enduring power of democracy
King Charles and Queen Camilla have been welcomed by warm weather as they made their first public appearance in Australia during an intimate Sunday morning service.
The King has sounded a clarion call to Australians on the enduring power of democracy and the Westminster system of government, as he declared that strong parliaments are vital in an era of unparalleled technological and social change.
In his first public appearances since he arrived in Australia on Friday night, King Charles followed in the footsteps of his fellow sovereigns as he attended a service at a North Sydney church where his great-grandfather George V laid the first stone in 1881, and spoke at the NSW Parliament House, where his mother, Elizabeth II, opened sessions in 1954 and 1992.
But Charles, who postponed his cancer treatment for his first royal visit to Australia since becoming King, also vowed to use the trip to renew his 60-year long “cherished” personal bond with Australia which began with two terms at Timbertop school in Victoria in 1966, and which he credits with making him into the man he is today.
Charles has now returned 16 more times since that first trip, aged 17.
In light of his revived “love of this country and its people”, the King gifted an hourglass to the Legislative Council on its Bicentenary so that it could “bear witness … to the next chapter”.
That love was returned by Sydneysiders who gathered at the church and on the streets outside parliament in the hopes of shaking the King’s hand or passing a bouquet of flowers to Queen Camilla. One woman outside the church thanked the King for ‘everything he was doing for the environment’, while others simply welcomed him to Australia or spoke to him about the unexpectedly sunny Sydney weather.
In a sign of the global chaos since his reign began in May 2023, Bishop Christopher Edwards at St Thomas’ Anglican Church delivered a prayer, asking for the protection of the King and Queen, as well as for world peace and an end to wars.
The reading from the New Testament opened with the line: “Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza’”.
King Charles’ brief and powerful speech at Parliament House urged the nation to believe in the “extraordinary capacity” of democracy to guide Australians through tumultuous times.
“To reflect on the story of this institution and this State is to see the promise and power of representative democracy,” he told a luncheon for the Bicentenary of the Legislative Council.
“Democratic systems must evolve, of course, to remain fit for purpose, but they are, nevertheless, essentially sound systems, as I said in this building fifty years ago,“ he said in Sydney on Sunday.
“When underpinned by wisdom and good faith, democracy has, I believe, an extraordinary capacity for innovation, compromise and adaptability, as well as stability.
“Moreover, strong parliamentary systems, like the one we celebrate on this special occasion, are fundamental to the democracies that serve today’s diverse societies; and are even more vital, given the ever-changing natural, social, economic and technological environment.”
As the cancer-stricken King prepared for two busy days in Canberra and Sydney on Monday and Tuesday respectively, he wrapped up his schedule early on Sunday following meetings with Governor-General Samantha Mostyn and NSW Governor Margaret Beazley at Admiralty House.
About a dozen anti-Israel and anti-Monarchy protesters gathered across the road from St Thomas’ on Sunday morning led in chants of “not our King” by Wayne Warton from the First Nation’s Resistance group. A large banner read “Empire Built on Genocide”.
Other protesters chanted “all Zionists are terrorists” as they waited for the King and Queen’s arrival.
Members of the Australian Monarchist League handed out small Australian flags to crowds.