MELBOURNE, Australia — King Charles III and Queen Camilla will arrive in Sydney on Friday for the first Australian visit by a reigning monarch in more than a decade, a trip that has rekindled debate about the nation’s constitutional links to Britain.
The Sydney Opera House’s iconic sails will be illuminated with images of previous royal visits to welcome the couple, whose six-day trip will be brief by royal standards. Charles, 75, is being treated for cancer, which led to the scaled-down itinerary.
He is only the second reigning British monarch to visit Australia. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, became the first 70 years ago.
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While the welcome will be warm, Australia’s national and state leaders want the royals removed from their constitution.
Monarchists expect the visit will strengthen Australians’ connection to their sovereign. Opponents hope for a rejection of the concept that someone from the other side of the world is Australia’s head of state.
The Australian Republic Movement, which campaigns for an Australian citizen to replace the British monarch as head of state, likens the royal visit to a touring act in the entertainment industry.
The ARM this week launched what it calls a campaign to “Wave Goodbye to Royal Reign with Monarchy: The Farewell Oz Tour!”
ARM co-chair Esther Anatolitis said royal visits to Australia were “something of a show that comes to town.”
“Unfortunately, it is a reminder that Australia’s head of state isn’t full-time, isn’t Australian. It’s a part-time person based overseas who’s the head of state of numerous places,” Anatolitis told the AP.
“We say to Charles and Camilla: ‘Welcome, we hope you’re enjoying our country and good health and good spirits.’ But we also look forward to this being the final tour of a sitting Australian monarch and that when they come back to visit soon, we look forward to welcoming them as visiting dignitaries,” she added.
Philip Benwell, national chair of the Australian Monarchist League, which campaigns for Australia’s constitutional links to Britain to be maintained, expects reaction to the royal couple will be overwhelmingly positive.
“Something like the royal visit brings the king closer in the minds of people, because we have an absent monarchy,” Benwell told the AP.
