King Charles to begin Australia tour with church service

King Charles and Queen Camilla will join a church congregation in Sydney for a Sunday service on the first day of engagements during their tour of Australia.

It is the King’s first visit to Australia since he became the country’s head of state in September 2022 and is the biggest trip the King has made since starting cancer treatment in February.

Their six-day visit to the Commonwealth country will involve meeting political and community leaders, and also celebrating the nation’s people, culture, and heritage.

They will join members of St Thomas’ Anglican Church in the northern Sydney for the service, which will be officiated by the city’s archbishop, the Most Reverend Kanishka Raffel.

Crowds have been told by the New South Wales government where to see the royal couple after the service, and it is likely the royal couple will meet some wellwishers.

On Saturday, a rest day for the couple, an image was released of the royals showing the King and Queen Camilla after they arrived on Friday at Admiralty House, the official residence of Australia’s governor-general, who represents the King in the country.

The couple were said to be touched by Sydney Opera House, which can be viewed from Admiralty House, being lit up with a rolling projection of images of them.

The King’s trip has been marked by his appointment to the honorary ranks of Admiral of the Fleet, Field Marshal, and Marshal in the three services of the Australian Defence Force.

Elsewhere, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, of which the King is a patron, has announced the launch of the King’s Commonwealth Fellowship programme.

It has been developed in response to urgent economic, social, and environmental challenges affecting small island developing states.

“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,” the King has said.

While in the Commonwealth country, the King’s visit will include supporting environmental projects and a naval review in Sydney Harbour.

The 75-year-old monarch is also expected to meet two Australian scientists, Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer, who have carried out pioneering research on melanoma – one of the country’s most common cancers.

There will be a reception in the capital on Monday to welcome King Charles, but the six state premiers – of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania – have said they are unable to attend.

In a post on the Royal Family’s X account, it said the trip would include the King addressing the Australian parliament in the capital Canberra.

The King’s cancer treatment has been suspended while in Australia and during the trip’s next leg in Samoa, where he will attend a Commonwealth leaders’ summit.

The timetables for the royal tour do not include evening engagements, state dinners, or trips out late in the day.

A message on the the Royal Family’s social media account said: “Ahead of our first visit to Australia as King and Queen, we are really looking forward to returning to this beautiful country to celebrate the extraordinarily rich cultures and communities that make it so special.”