Joyful crowds numbering in the hundreds welcomed King Charles of Britain and his wife, Queen Camilla, with a warm welcome on Sunday in Sydney after they attended a mass. The king said that his visit to Australia, his first to a place belonging to the Royal Crown since he ascended the throne, made him feel “great joy.”
Although this is the 16th visit for Charles (75 years old) to Australia, where he studied for six months in 1966, it is the King’s first major foreign trip since he was diagnosed with cancer.
He said in a speech before the New South Wales state parliament, “What a great joy it is to come to Australia as a king for the first time, to renew my love for this country and its people, which I have cherished for a long time.”
Earlier, the Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Ravel, and children from the church’s Sunday school, waving Australian flags, received the royal couple at St. Thomas’ Anglican Church before the start of the mass.
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After the mass, the Australian public had the first opportunity to meet King Charles and his wife since their arrival in Sydney last Friday evening, as the couple chatted with a number of families and loved ones, some of whom chanted, “May God protect the king.”
Charles will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa after concluding his six-day visit to Australia.
The Association of Commonwealth Universities said today that King Charles had made a significant personal donation to create a skills program to address climate change and promote higher education in small island states, including Pacific islands.
