Camilla fears ahead of ‘exhausting’ Australia tour schedule

As King Charles prepares to embark on a nine-day tour of Australia, royal experts are concerned about Queen Camilla.

King Charles and Queen Camilla are preparing to embark on their nine-day tour to Australia this week and have an action-packed itinerary ahead.

While the visit is historic - Charles’ first as reigning monarch - it could be “extremely exhausting” for Camilla who “doesn’t like flying”, according to an expert.

The monarchs will land in Australia on Friday, October 18 and start their trip in Sydney before heading to Canberra three days later for a banquet with senior politicians.

The King and Queen then head to Samoa on Wednesday October 23, before departing for the UK on Saturday October 26.

But editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine Ingrid Seward told The Sun: “Queen Camilla is 76.

“She gets very tired because she’s not born to this royal life.

“Not a good traveller...her feet swell up.” Royal expert raises concerns for Queen Camilla ahead of her “exhausting” Australian tour. Picture: AFP

“I know she’s been in it a long time, but she’s not born to it, and I think people sometimes forget that Camilla’s never actually had a job,” noted Seward.

“She’s not a great traveller, and she’s not good in the heat, because... like a lot of women of her age, you know. her feet swell up, and she feels uncomfortable,” the royal expert continued.

“So it’s not the most pleasurable thing to do for her to whisk across to Australia although it might be really exciting for somebody younger.”

Despite the tour being potentially taxing for Queen Camilla, Seward claimed she will make it a success.

“I don’t think it’s great for her, but she has got a great humour, and she’s absolutely lovely to everybody.

“She’ll take a hairdresser. She’ll take her dresser, Jackie. She’ll have plenty of staff around her to help her, and she’s she is just so good humoured that people really like her.

“Even when there’s a dire situation she can turn it around and make and make it much better.

“She’s what we call an upper person.

“She makes the best of any situation, and she can always make it, you know, find some amusement somewhere to cheer everybody up.”

King Charles has said he won’t stand in the way of Australia axing the monarchy. Picture: Getty Images

It comes as 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 Queen and Prince Philip wave farewell to Australia in 2011, the last time a reigning monarch visited the country. Picture: Getty Images

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.

King Charles and Queen Camilla met an Australian icon in 2012. Picture: AAP

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.

A spokesman for King Charles described the monarch’s “deep love and affection” for Australia. Picture: Getty Images

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.

Originally published as Camilla fears ahead of ‘exhausting’ Australia tour schedule