Eclectic mix all honoured to fly the flag

Of the 2300 people at Westminster Abbey, there could hardly have been a more diverse group than the 14 Australians on hand.

Sam Kerr leads Governer General David Hurley and Linda Hurley, and Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon into Westminster Abbey. Picture: Getty Images

Of the 2300 people who shuffled into Westminster Abbey on Saturday, there could hardly have been a more diverse and eclectic group than the 14 Australians chosen to represent the nation at the ­coronation.

The group, which included footballers, artists, comedians, dancers, doctors, nurses, academics and soldiers, had spent the week, in their own words, thrilled by the honour, but wondering why they were the chosen.

There was Matildas captain Sam Kerr, who as flag-bearer led the Australian contingent into Westminster Abbey. Dressed in a black suit and a white shirt, she ­entered the abbey followed by Governor-General David Hurley, his wife Linda Hurley, and ­ Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon.

Ms Hurley and Ms Haydon wore monochromatic blue two-piece sets, while the men wore sharp suits.

Also in the group was rocker Nick Cave, youth advocate Yasmin Poole, Covid nurse Emily Regan, soprano Yvonne Kenny, ­ballerina Leanne Benjamin, comedian Adam Hills, homeless advocate Daniel Nour, geneticist Minette Salmon, arts leader Claire Spencer, vaccine specialist Merryn Voysey, Bali bombing rescuer Richard Joyes and Victoria Cross recipient Daniel Keighran.

Nick Cave and Rowan Williams. Picture: Getty Images

Adam Hills on Saturday in London. Picture: Getty Images

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development secretary-general Mathias Cormann attended the coronation alongside his wife, Perth lawyer Hayley Cormann.

“I am proud to join a group of remarkable Australians … showcasing our truly diverse and ­dynamic nation,” the Prime Minister said. “Outstanding Australians have been chosen to show the world the best of our values: caring for others, serving the community and championing progress.”

Kerr, a goalscoring machine for her English club Chelsea and for the Matildas, said it was a “massive” and “amazing honour”.

When asked what she thought of King Charles, she replied: “All the royal family, yeah, they’re cool.”

Kerr, who was awarded an Order of Australia in 2022 for services to football, is one of the most recognisable footballers in the world. She is Australia’s all-time international goalscorer.

Professor Voysey, who played an instrumental role in the ­Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine trials, said: “I am very ­honoured that I was invited to ­represent the country, it’s going to be amazing and something I never expected to be a part of.”

She said she was honoured to represent her vaccine team. “I’m really proud of the team for what we achieved during the pandemic. In the end the vaccine was rolled out in 170 countries and saved millions of lives.”

Benjamin, a former award-winning ballerina, said she was thrilled to attend. “I’m just terribly excited. I had the opportunity to dance for the royal family and to have met quite a few members of the royal family, including Princess Diana, Princess Margaret and I performed for the Queen Mother when she turned 101,” she said.

Benjamin, who danced until she was 49, said it was always a thrill to perform in front of royals.

“As a performer on stage you could see the royal box and you can see when someone from the royal family is in there. Sometimes you can see the twinkling of the tiara,” she said.

“I am really happy for King Charles III. I’ve been to parties with the royal family at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House and I see the work that he has done, and it’s just phenomenal. He has always been very gracious and very warm and very curious about the arts and I know he’s passionate about music as well.”

Mr Nour, who set up Street Side Medics, giving free health support from a van to the homeless in Sydney, said he was “humbled and very honoured”.

He said the idea for Street Side Medics came to him when he saw homeless people in London so ­returning to the city was an emotional experience for him.

Kenny, a longtime soprano and now a mentor to young musicians, had been planning to watch the coronation on TV with a “glass of bubbly” in her hand, so was ­delighted to be invited.

She was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1989 for services to opera and performed the Olympic Hymn at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

“Now I am leading the Australian Music Foundation here (in London), and we raise funds to help young postgraduate Australians study over here for two or three years,” she said.

Veteran singer-songwriter Cave explained why he was happy to accept his invitation.

Writing in his newsletter Red Hand Files, Cave said he “hold(s) an inexplicable emotional attachment to the royals”.

He said he was “not a monarchist, nor am I a royalist, nor am I an ardent republican for that ­matter”. But he added: “What I am also not is so spectacularly ­incurious about the world and the way it works, so ideologically ­captured, so damn grouchy, as to refuse an invitation to what will more than likely be the most important historical event in the UK of our age.”

He said he once met Queen ­Elizabeth and she “seemed almost extraterrestrial and was the most charismatic woman I have ever met. Maybe it was the lighting, but she actually glowed.

“Beyond the interminable but necessary debates about the abolition of the monarchy, I hold an inexplicable emotional attachment to the royals – the strangeness of them, the deeply eccentric nature of the whole affair that so perfectly reflects the unique weirdness of Britain itself.”