A punishing schedule – however it’s left the King extra energised, writes REBECCA ENGLISH
Very briefly, Charles’s shoulders sagged and he closed his red-rimmed eyes in what appeared to be sheer exhaustion.
Sitting in the drawing room of Government House in Canberra, it was an understandable sign of human frailty during his sixth engagement of the day amid a crowd of thousands and contending with 25-degree heat.
But that nano-second respite was soon over. From close by, I watched the King on his day’s final ‘grip and grin’ (as they call it in the business) as he gave a jovial smile and waggled his eyebrows companionably as if to say ‘here we are again’.
Make no mistake, this visit to Australia and Samoa was a Herculean undertaking for the monarch, who will be 76 next month and had to pause his cancer treatment to travel.
His supposedly ‘slimmed- down’ programme, with only one official evening engagement over the ten days, was still relentlessly punishing. And yet the tour energised him.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave as they board The Royal Australian Air Force jet on October 26
King Charles III meeting people during a farewell ceremony at Siumu Village on the final day of the royal visit to Australia and Samoa
Queen Camilla laughing during a farewell ceremony at Siumu Village on the final day of the royal visit to Australia and Samoa
Thousands of hands have been shaken. Kisses and hugs were unselfconsciously received. And every well-wisher greeted as if they were the first.
The look on Charles’s face as he starred at the 10,000-strong crowd cheering for him at the Sydney Opera House was genuinely that of a man exclaiming: ‘Really? For me?’
For someone plagued for so long by introspection and an almost Eeyore-ish self-doubt, it has been a remarkably validating experience.
In Australia, he was coming to a country where he had no expectation of welcome – and, if some opinion polls were to be believed, very little hope of ever winning it over either.
Indeed, many naysayers had predicted that support for the monarchy would quickly wither following the death of Queen Elizabeth, and the arrival of her considerably less popular son would only seal the deal.
In reality, the opposite has largely been true. Australians, even those ambivalent to the monarchy, have opened their arms to this complex but remarkably brave man.
Queen Camilla waves as she boards The Royal Australian Air Force jet on October 26
Villagers at the Siumu Village ahead of a farewell ceremony for King Charles III and Queen Camilla on October 26
King Charles III points at the rain during a farewell ceremony at Siumu Village on the final day of the royal visit to Australia and Samoa
Pictured: The jet that the Queen and King boarded as they left Samoa on October 26
A general view of preparations at the Siumu Village ahead of the arrival of King Charles III and Queen Camilla for the ceremony
Britain’s King Charles and Queen Camilla attend a ceremony at Siumu Village on October 26
Queen Camilla holds up a fan during the farewell ceremony on October 26
The crowds were significantly larger – and far warmer – than anyone expected. Coverage in the media was glowing and demonstrations almost non-existent on the ground.
In Samoa, he was proclaimed a ‘high chief’, with his lifelong leadership on environmental issues lauded. Meanwhile, Commonwealth leaders praised him as a man with whom difficult conversations, about difficult issues, can be had.
One senior courtier recently told me that the British monarchy was rather like Doctor Who – constantly regenerating. That’s why it has survived for 1,000 years.
And while he may be a King, not a Time Lord, it’s clear that Charles’s transformation into a thoughtful, constitutional monarch, who has finally earned respect in his own right, may no longer be science fiction.
