King Charles and Queen Camilla to attend church service

The Royal Couple have arrived for a church service at North Sydney.

Overjoyed Australians waved their flags as His Majesty and Queen Camilla took their time to greet fans outside St Thomas’ Anglican Church.

Children from the Sunday school were visibly delighted as they interacted with the royal couple.

Some from the crowd lining the street outside the church had been waiting since before dawn, dressed in their best.

The King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme will offer fellowships to people at varying levels of their careers and studies in a bid to support homegrown solutions to the biggest problems facing Pacific nations, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) announced on Sunday.

Many of Australia’s smaller neighbours are on the frontlines of climate change, with rising sea levels threatening homes.

But relative isolation also imposes a host economic and social challenges, prompting young people to look to bigger countries in the region to build their futures.

The King said he hoped the scheme would help further ‘the free exchange of knowledge’ and build ‘towards a brighter future for all.’

‘Throughout my life I have believed in the power of education to improve lives and unite communities across the Commonwealth and beyond,’ he said.

‘There is so much we can learn from one another as we work together within the Commonwealth to tackle the major challenges of our age and, as these Fellowships do in Small Island Developing States, to address them where they are felt most acutely.

‘It is my fervent hope that these new Fellowships will play a significant role in furthering the free exchange of knowledge and advancing the spirit of mutual support that lies at the heart of our Commonwealth – today, tomorrow and towards a brighter future for all.’

King Charles III and Queen Camilla were very warmly greeted by delighted wellwishers as they arrived for a church service in North Sydney on Sunday morning.

There was a high level of security when the Royals arrived at St Thomas’ Anglican Church for the first official duty of their short tour of Australia.

Though there were some protesters, they were outnumbered by those happy to see the King and Queen, who waved Australian flags and cheering the Royals.

The service at St Thomas, one of Australia’s oldest churches, was held by the Archbishop of Sydney and restricted to the local congregation.

The Sydney Opera house was lit up on Friday night with photographs of King Charles and Queen Camilla illuminated on the sails.

Some of the photographs shared were taken decades ago during King Charles’ previous trips to Down Under.

The Royal couple were clearly very happy to be at St Thomas’ for the Sunday morning service.

King Charles and Queen Camilla both looked resplendent, dressed in light-coloured clothes on a sunny, Sydney spring morning.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he and his fiance Jodie Haydon were able to ‘have a drink and a chat on an informal basis’ with the King and Queen at Admiralty House on Saturday.

‘King Charles is someone who has an affection for Australia,’ he told reporters.

King Charles and Queen Camilla are in Sydney. Photograph by CPOIS Andrew Dakin

At 10.30am, the King and Queen will both attend a church service, which will be followed at 11.50am by the King attending an event to celebrate the bicentenary of the NSW Legislative Council.

At 12.20pm, King Charles will have an audience with the NSW Governor General Margaret Beazley at Admiralty House.

This is King Charles’ 17th time in Australia, which includes two terms boarding at Geelong Grammar as a teenager.

But this is the first trip Down Under since his coronation in 2022.

King Charles III has been to Australia 16 times. This visit marks his 17th trip to Down Under.

The first visit was in 1966 where at the age 17 he completed two terms as an exchange student at Timbertop, Geelong Grammar School, in Victoria.

King Charles and Camilla were pictured taking a stroll together on their first morning in Australia.

The royal couple were spotted ambling on the lawns of Admiralty House in Kirribilli on Sydney‘s north shore around 10am on Saturday, the first day of their whistle-stop five-day visit to Australia.

His Majesty cut a casual yet stylish figure in an open-necked blue shirt paired with a beige sports jacket and cream chinos, while Camilla opted for a dark blue summer dress and matching cardigan.

King Charles and Queen Camilla will be attending a service at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney on Sunday morning.

The royal couple are expected to be greeted by huge crowds.