Mayor’s invite to King and Queen

Coast’s plea to the Palace

The Gold Coast will roll out the red carpet the King Charles and Queen Camilla ahead of the royals embarking on their first royal tour as monarch.

Mayor Tom Tate has written to Buckingham Palace officially inviting the King and his consort to return to the city he visited to great delight in 2018.

The couple have announced their tour but are yet to name the locations.

“The King and Queen have an open invitation to visit the Gold Coast at any time,” the staunch monarchist said.

“The King and Queen enjoyed our city during the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, so having them revisit during an Australia tour would be a great privilege.

“Once an official visit is confirmed, I look forward to formally inviting Their Majesties back to the Gold Coast.”

King Charles last visited the Gold Coast in 2018 for the Games when he was still Prince of Wales and standing in for his mother, the late Queen.

It was his 16th trip to Australia and seventh to Queensland.

His Majesty opened the Commonwealth Games at Metricon Stadium on April 5, 2018 and then toured the city, meeting with Mr Tate, thenprime minister Malcolm Turnbull and placing the final piece of the Commonwealth Games walkway in.

The then-Prince walked Surfers Paradise beach, met with fans and even inspected a wheelie bin shown to him by Robina High students.

“And what is this?” he asked when opening up the lid, laughing and dropping it again.

“Oh no! That’s our bin! Don’t open that!” one of the students responded.

Experience Gold Coast executive director for tourism Rachel Hancock said a royal visit would boost tourism, with monarchists travelling from far and wide to see the sovereign, but also to advertise the Gold Coast in the UK which is rapidly becoming one of our biggest tourism destinations.

“We know the Gold Coast is a much-loved destination for royals who return time and again including Zara Tindall for our iconic Magic Millions Carnival,” she said.

“The Gold Coast is a soughtafter destination for UK visitors with 63,000 travelling here each year pre-pandemic and being our fourth largest source market.

“The exposure a royal visit would bring with it would be welcomed in driving our tourism message.”

The latest figures, released in late December, found 36,000 UK residents came to the Gold Coast in 2023, our second-largest overseas market.

Ms Tindall arrives on the Coast last week ahead of the Magic Millions carnival, which launched on Sunday with the annual polo by the sea event.

Gold Coast city leaders are planning a permanent memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth II as well as the current king.

The memorial to the Queen, expected to be either a statue or plaque, will be installed at Coolangatta’s Queen Elizabeth II Park.

Mr Tate has also pitched naming a waterfall or park after the King in tribute to his longstanding environmentalism.