The King and Queen are due to arrive in Australia on the
18th October where they will be welcomed to Parliament
House in Canberra by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
and they will attend a reception for political
and community leaders.

Prominent Australians who have demonstrated achievement in
fields such as science, health, arts, culture, sports will
be on the guest list.

The Royals have a busy schedule. They will attend engagements
in Sydney on the 20th and 22nd October and visit Canberra
again on the 21st before returning to Sydney the next day.

In Sydney they will conduct a fleet review of the navy, attend
a community barbeque and visit the Opera House.

They will lay a wreath at the Australian War Memorial and also
visit the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Memorial.

King Charles will also visit CSIRO as part of the agency's
effort to tackle bushfires. King Charles will also meet with
prominent scientists to learn about their ground-breaking
cancer research.

King Charles will meet with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
representatives and groups.

It's a very full schedule for a monarch combating cancer and
having decided to put off his weekly treatment to come and visit
us.

This will be the King's first visit since he became King and the
first visit by a reigning British monarch since 2011.

His Majesty first visited Australia in 1966 and he has a strong
personal affection for Australia.

His Majesty has made 15 official visits to Australia. Most
recently in 2018 for the Commonwealth Games.

By coming here he's done us proud.

We need to return the gesture by welcoming him and his wife
to this land of mateship and a fair-go.

Which is obviously lacking in our state premiers
all of whom have said they are too busy to meet with the King.

Shame on them. Whether you're pro-Republic or pro-Monarchy -
the fact remains - King Charles is our current Head of State
and our politicians need to- follow
protocol and meet and greet the visiting monarch to whom they've
taken an oath to serve.

Hi Foxy

I agree. I'm a lifelong republican, but to me the Premiers' refusal to meet the king seems petulant and rude.

Hi Rhian,

Thanks.

It just seems odd that all the state Premiers have
declined the invitations to meet the Royals saying
they were busy with engagements. Surely these
engagements could have been postponed. The Royals
will only be in Australia for a few days.

I just can't understand it. Especially when the
premiers are under an obligation to follow
correct behaviour in the offices they hold.

.

I happen to have English and Irish blood in my veins, but I would, personally, prefer the land of my birth, as a third-generation Australian, to become a full democracy in which we freely elect our rulers, including our head of state, rather than continue to perpetuate the constitutional monarchy we inherited from the UK.

I don’t mind if we change to a republic or continue to remain a constitutional monarchy, so long as we elect our head of state – president or monarch – man or woman (or whatever). Nor do I mind what nationality our head of state may happen to have. We have never had an Australian head of state since the nation exists.

Nevertheless, I consider it imperative that our head of state be a permanent resident of and in Australia.

As regards our UK head of state’s occasional touristic visits, I see that the net worth of the British royal family is estimated at $AUS 41.3 billion (£21.3 billion), according to Forbes. In addition, Queen Elizabeth II had a separate personal fortune of $AUS 738.3 million (£380.7 million), inherited by her son King Charles, according to Forbes.

I find it quite shocking that the Australian taxpayer should pay the bill for these Royal tourist visits.

Here are some of the bills :

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 16-day tour in 2018 cost an estimated $1 million; Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales' 10-day visit in 2014 cost about $470,000; and the late Queen Elizabeth II's 10-day stay in 2011 cost more than $1.5 million.

Since 1867, the British royal family has visited Australia over fifty times in those 157 years and we Australians have always borne the costs. That’s a lot of taxpayer money.

So far as I am aware, the Royal family has never reciprocated with an invitation to any Australian taxpayers to tour the UK at their cost.

I don’t mind inviting friends home to dinner occasionally, but if I did that fifty times and they never reciprocated, I can’t say I would find that very polite.

Would you ?

.

All the "republicans" who want to do away with the Crown and elect everyone should really give some thought to the quality of the people that they have been electing since they got the vote, and where that has got them.

There is little support for a republic in Australia. Albanese has erased the ridiculous “assistant minister for ‘the republic’”. THE republic, when no such thing existed.

The disrespect shown to the King of Australia is extremely childish, but not unexpected from the trash we keep voting for. Just imagine trying to pick a suitable President from the rubbish that would be presenting itself for the job; or the rubbish selected by whichever rubbish Prime Minister is hanging about at the time.

I believe that most Australians, no matter what they think of our Constitutional Monarchy, would be appalled by the childish behaviour of the petty little state Premiers. It might make some of the “republicans” think again about the dignity and history of the Monarchy compared with gauche politicians.

What an embarrassment for all of us!