Australia awaits King Charles on first big overseas tour since cancer diagnosis
King Charles arrives in Australia on Friday for his inaugural visit to an overseas realm as sovereign, his first major foreign trip since his cancer diagnosis.
SYDNEY, Australia — King Charles, the only British monarch who has spent time living in Australia, arrives on Friday for his inaugural visit to an overseas realm as sovereign, his first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer.
The first visit by a reigning monarch in 13 years has revived debate in Australia over whether a British royal should be head of state, although polling shows Australians remain ambivalent about becoming a republic.
Concern for King Charles’s health has seen the republican movement’s founder, “Schindler’s List” author Thomas Keneally, accept an invitation to meet a royal couple he says are amiable and relatable.
It is embarrassing that Australians are subjects of the king, Keneally said in an interview, adding that this was no fault of King Charles, who has said a republic is a matter for Australians to decide.
“I hope he is OK on this tour because he has that cancer,” Keneally said. “He is not the problem in all this, because he said over and over it’s up to us.”
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