King Charles and Queen Camilla kicked off their royal tour of Australia on Sunday morning, receiving a warm welcome from excited crowds at St Thomas’s Anglican Church in Sydney.
After arriving in Australia on Friday evening and enjoying a day of rest, the royal couple attended a church service, where hundreds of fans waved flags and cheered their arrival.
The King, dressed in a pale grey suit, and Queen Camilla, wearing a pale green Anna Valentine dress with a matching coat and a Lock & Co straw hat, took time to greet schoolchildren on their way into the church.
One girl shared, “He asked us if we knew what the Bible was and if we studied it.” When asked about meeting the royals, the children enthusiastically responded, “Amazing!”
Escorted by the Archbishop of Sydney, the Most Reverend Kanishka Raffel, Charles and Camilla were also greeted by children waving Australian flags inside the church grounds. One of the children, 10-year-old Abigail Smith, gifted the King a drawing of a kangaroo, to which he kindly responded, “You are very kind.”
Joe Ackland, a 48-year-old from Melbourne, had a brief chat with the King, asking if he would go surfing or swimming at Manly Beach. Charles humorously replied, “If I was a younger man.”
Despite a small group of protesters nearby, they were far outnumbered by the cheering royal supporters lining the streets.
Inside the church, 450 attendees joined the royal couple for the service, while outside, well-wishers expressed their gratitude for the King’s visit.
Sydney resident Lisa Knezevic said, “I want to let him know how we appreciate he made the really big trip.” Another fan, Sheffield-born Ryan Gilpin, added, “I’ve been waiting 33 years for this moment because I just love the King and the Royal Family.”
Later, King Charles expressed his joy at returning to Australia for the first time as monarch, thanking the crowd for their warm welcome. He also presented an hourglass speech timer as a gift to the State Parliament’s upper house, symbolizing the passage of time.
