Inside King Charles' Australian Tour: Charm, Challenges and a ‘Friendly Cousin’ Approach (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

King Charles and Queen Camilla leave church in Sydney on Oct. 20, 2024.Photo:Dean Lewins - Pool/Getty

Dean Lewins - Pool/Getty

Despite these hurdles, as Charles andQueen Camillamove on to the next leg of their tour in Samoa, courtiers will be pleased with the outcome of the royal couple’s visit Down Under, a veteran royal observer says.

An estimated 10,000 people gathered in Sydney on the royal couple’s final day, a turnout that reflected how Charles' positive disposition in a country he clearly loves reassured many who might have otherwise been uncertain about their new King.

“Always in advance, the republican debate rears its head with questions about whether this is the last tour of this kind,” says Robert Hardman, author ofThe Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy.“Republicans will say, ‘Of course he’s welcome as a guest, but please go home and take your crown with you.’ But what then tends to happen is that he is charming and personable."

‘When people see him enjoying Australia and his obvious affection for the country, it is quite hard to get cross about him, as if he is manifesting some feudal ownership. He is there like some old friendly cousin coming to stay. I would say the tour has been a success, despite the incident [in Parliament]," Hardman continues.

Charles has deep ties to the country. “He likes being in Australia. Among the royal family, he has the greatest affiliation with that part of the world, having been there as a teenager. He loved it — it was the happiest part of his school days," Hardman says.

Hardman, who is currently in New York on a speaking tour topromote his book, says that Charles has always embraced the “sunny Aussie attitude.” He reveals that when Charles was Prince of Wales, he seriously considered taking on the role of Governor-General — representing his late mother,Queen Elizabeth, in one of her realms — alongsidePrincess Dianain the 1980s. “The princes [William and Harry] would have spent quite a lot of their childhood there, which might have made for a very different outcome,” Hardman tells PEOPLE. “Everyone was very keen on it apart from Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s Labor Party. They wouldn’t buy it.”

King Charles meets members of the public in Sydney, Australia on Oct. 20, 2024.Arthur Edwards-Pool/Getty

Arthur Edwards-Pool/Getty

It was 30 years ago, in 1994, when Charles expressed his openness to Australia becoming a republic, should that be the desire of the Australian people—something his aides reiteratedjust before his latest tour. At that time, the prince found himself at a low point in his life, having recently separated from Diana and dealing with the fallout from Andrew Morton’s bookDiana: Her True Story, alongside the scandal surrounding his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

“He was having a tough time,” Hardman recalls. “Republicanism was getting underway. He made that speech saying he was all in favor of them having sensible discussions and that they must do what they had to do. He was basically saying, ‘If you want to be a republic, that’s fine; it’s not going to upset me.’”

Senator Lidia Thorpe and King Charles.Victoria Jones/Shutterstock; Lukas Coch-Pool/Getty

Victoria Jones/Shutterstock; Lukas Coch-Pool/Getty

This trip, of course, contrasts sharply with those Charles undertook as a younger, fitter man. Reportedly pausing his cancer treatment for this nearly two-week tour, Charles has scaled back his activities. “The itinerary has undoubtedly been reduced,” Hardman says. “The impact remains the same as people turn on the news and see them having a good time in Sydney, in Canberra.”

The author adds, “He has gone to the other side of the world with a serious disease. There is still a lot that they have done. The idea has been to cram a lot in, but don’t do an awful lot of traveling and make sure you touch all the bases.”

“This trip is a reminder that these bonds are much more complex than a binary decision between royalist or republican,” Hardman says. “And that the aura around him has changed. He is monarch and it feels different.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla pose in front of well wishers at Sydney Opera House on Oct. 22, 2024.MARK BAKER/POOL/AFP via Getty

MARK BAKER/POOL/AFP via Getty

Hardman notes that Charles is “happy in his work,” even following his cancer diagnosis. “He is in good spirits. He is not having to second guess what Buckingham Palace might think on a particular issue, as he is in charge,” the royal biographer says.

By his side is his longtime love and wife of 19 years, Camilla, 77.

“She keeps his spirits up and is a reassurance, but she also steps in here and there. We knowshe is not particularly keen on long-haul traveland yet has thrown herself into this trip.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla in Sydney on Oct. 22, 2024.Chris Jackson/Getty

Chris Jackson/Getty

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Charles and Camillaarrived in Samoa on Oct. 23for the next leg of their tour, which focuses on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, bringing together the 56 nations closely tied to the U.K.

source: people.com