WE GO ON TOUR WITH THE ROYALS
Whether it was a barefoot Duchess on Broadbeach or being introduced to turtles by eco warrior Bindi Irwin, the royal couple won hearts every step of their tour, says Juliet Rieden.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall arrived in Australia to a chorus of raucous Republic baying in the newspapers. Former Prime Minister Paul Keating even penned an opinion piece in UK’s influential The Sunday Times claiming Prince Charles himself believed he should not succeed his mother as Australia’s Head of State.
It seemed like an unnecessarily rude welcome for the Prince of Wales, whose passion for this wide brown land has developed over 52 years, since he was first introduced to Aussie life as an apprehensive 17-year-old student at Timbertop, the rural outreach of Geelong Grammar School. Today through the Prince’s Trust Australia the royal is rolling up his sleeves and putting that passion to work, transforming lives and supporting Australian communities and the environment with a raft of smart initiatives, from saving the Great Barrier Reef to building sustainable community housing and creating programs for First Australians. Surely the actions of a man committed to a future connection with this nation.
But the likeable royal took it all in his stride. Such rumblings are nothing new. In fact, in the past Prince Charles and his mother the Queen have both applauded such debate, declaring the issue of Australia’s Head of State to be a matter for the Australian people alone.
And if the Heir Apparent’s tour of Queensland and the Northern Territories is anything to go by, it’s pretty clear the people have decided.
Massive crowds
The Weekly was invited to join the royal couple on their tour and everywhere they went – together in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, or as the Prince moved north solo to Bundaberg, Lady Elliot Island, Cairns, Arnhem Land and Darwin – they were greeted with cheers, applause and unbridled excitement.
Thousands turned out, even in downpours, and the royal couple seemed to be having as much fun as the public.
On a visit to Broadbeach to watch Surf Life Saving nippers in training, Camilla quietly slipped off her shoes and plunged her toes into the soft powdery sand as she and the Prince headed down to the ocean. In their wake was an army of media, camera shutters clattering, and crowds, constantly growing in numbers, snapping away on their smartphones. But the couple didn’t seem to care as they drank in the beauty of this golden part of the world and laughed and joked with those around them.
This was the tone for the whole tour. While Prince Charles clearly had work he wanted to do – firstly to open the Commonwealth Games and meet athletes, support Queensland and Northern Territories’ communities and the Royal Flying Doctor Service celebrating its 90th anniversary, visit the Great Barrier Reef’s coral cay, the Daintree Rainforest, meet the Gumatj Aboriginal Traditional Owners in Arnhem Land and soldiers serving in the Australian Defence Forces in Cairns and Darwin – he also just wanted to touch base with as many members of the Aussie public as he could. Both the Prince and the Duchess launched into crowds, chatting and shaking hands with an ease and warmth I’ve never seen before. They were enjoying themselves and their passion was infectious.
On Broadbeach, property managers Brooke and Michael Reilly brought their children Annie, 10, Patrick, eight, and Grace-Maria, two, to join those lining the beach in the hope of meeting the royal duo, and couldn’t believe it when they were pulled out of the crowd for a one-on-one chat. “Patrick had baked Anzac biscuits, they are our family favourite and we thought Prince Charles and the Duchess should try some Aussie biscuits,” Brooke told me afterwards. “Annie had picked a beautiful bunch of white roses, snow berries and freesias wrapped in eucalyptus leaves for the Duchess from our local florist and Patrick and Annie had made cards. Patrick’s was of Prince Charles sitting on a throne. Annie’s was of Prince Charles surfing at sunset on our local Main Beach. Their Royal Highnesses seemed very happy to be receiving personalised cards. The Prince was amused by Annie’s drawing of him surfing.”
As they were chatting, Grace-Maria, cradled in her mother’s arms, was captivated by the koala pin the Duchess had clipped to her scarf. “Grace-Maria was delighted when Her Royal Highness very kindly gave it to her. We are keeping it safe for when she is older and can understand her special experience,” adds Brooke.
“It was wonderful to experience a royal visit, and a very special opportunity for us to meet Their Royal Highnesses. Our family love the royal family. My mother was a little girl when the Queen visited Toowoomba. She remembers going along to see the visit with her father.”
This is the essence of the royal family’s connection with Australia. Everywhere we went people talked of past experiences, whether it was meeting The Duke of Edinburgh,
The Queen as a young woman, Prince Charles as a teenager, with his first wife Princess Diana or Charles’s son Prince William when he came out to support this part of Queensland after flooding,
and later with Kate on their first tour Down Under as a couple.
Leila Sherwood was one of the many fans, back in the day, who stole a kiss from the Prince of Wales, and 40 years later was reunited with His Royal Highness. In 1979 Leila had skipped school to see Prince Charles at Cairns airport. The royal was something of a heart-throb when Leila jumped out of the crowd and planted a kiss on his cheek. Clearly still smitten, Leila joined the throngs outside St. John the Evangelist Church in Cairns where HRH had joined the morning service, and she wasn’t disappointed. She was holding the newspaper clipping so the Prince couldn’t miss her. Chuckling, he immediately walked over. “He held my hand and said ‘bless you’,” said Leila afterwards, still breathless. “I didn’t want to let go of his hand.”
Bindi meets her Prince
On a remote piece of coral cay, Prince Charles captured another heart – that of Bindi Irwin. The Irwin family was part of a forum of business leaders, politicians, scientists and not-for-profit groups exploring new ways to protect the Reef. The Prince had left the bustle of Brisbane and the Gold Coast to take the 90-minute flight in a tiny plane to the stunning Lady Elliot Island, an eco-resort surrounded by the Great Barrier Reef where giant turtles pop their heads up from the waves and manta rays swim along the ocean floor.
His Royal Highness had wanted to visit the Reef, to see first-hand the damage wrought by climate change and human kind. “I don’t just want a picture of me in shorts on the reef, I want to do something,” he told Anna Marsden, the Managing Director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, who had organised the impressive round table discussion that the Prince joined.
I had flown on ahead and was there with the welcome party to greet the Prince. The holiday makers couldn’t believe it when the Prince walked by. But fully expecting him was Australia’s conservation royalty, the Irwin family – Terri and her children Bindi, 19, and Robert, 14. “He is amazing, a true wildlife warrior,” said a starstuck Bindi with a nod to her father, Steve Irwin.
Bindi and Robert showed Prince Charles some newly hatched baby turtles and photographer Robert presented the royal with a canvas of one of his photographs as a gift. It was a giant turtle taken in the waters here.
“Lady Elliot Island has some of the most amazingly pristine marine
ecosystems,” Robert told The Weekly. “It’s one of my favourite photography locations. My mum and dad and whole family have always loved it here. And we’re really happy to get His Royal Highness out on the reef to appreciate this incredible spot.”
Prince Charles has spoken out twice in the past six months about the threat climate change poses to the Great Barrier Reef, a situation he has called “catastrophic”. He said companies or individuals who resisted environmentally friendly practices often claimed it was, “the end of the world ... But you usually find there is life after death,” the Prince added.
After meeting the 69-year-old royal, Bindi couldn’t contain herself. “He is phenomenal and so knowledgeable and someone who is able to lead so brilliantly,” she told me. “I’m extraordinarily thrilled to live in this day and age that he becomes King. What an honour to meet him today.
It’s a thing that I’ll tell my grandchildren.”
Family matters
This family connection with Australia is just as keenly felt by the royals themselves. The previous day, on a visit to the Commonwealth Games athletes’ village, the Duchess spoke exclusively to The Weekly about her son Tom Parker Bowles’ soft spot for life Down Under. The food writer was one of the star hosts in the Nine Network’s Family Food Fight last year and evidently he’s coming back. “He’s coming in June for six weeks to do it again,” explained the Duchess. “He loves it here and has such a good time. I don’t want him too far away, but it’s nice that he comes over.”
The Duchess said she was very much enjoying Australia, part of an exciting year for her family. “It’s non-stop. There’s marriages, babies ... and another grandchild. They’re mounting up. We’ll soon be in double figures,” she laughed.
On his return from Lady Elliot Island, Prince Charles was reunited with great Australian friends, many of whom have come to feel like family as the Governor of Queensland hosted any early 70th birthday bash for the Prince. Two really old friends had travelled from Melbourne and Sydney to catch up
with the lad they taught at Timbertop 52 years ago. Michael Collins Persse, 86, had come from hospital to spend the evening with the Prince. Michael was Prince Charles’ history tutor here in Australia when the royal attended Geelong Grammar. He has stayed in touch with the future King ever since and says that whenever they meet,
“we just pick up the same conversation we’ve been having for 52 years. He is such a special person,” explains Michael, who says Charles was fascinated with history and was a very diligent deepthinking student. “He gives inspiration to those who know him.”
His French teacher from Timbertop, Dr Janet West, 82, was also thrilled to catch up with her former student. “He spoke beautiful French,” she muses. “Perfect pronunciation. My husband taught him Latin and Greek but his favourite thing was to go off trout fishing. He’d go on his own – well, with one of his police officers. He also liked skiing on Mount Buller with the boys.”
It was here, with close friends around him, that Prince Charles gave a speech that summed up how he feels about Australia. The Prince had the room in peals of laughter one minute and spellbound the next as he shared the perils of turning 70 with surprising candour, his passion for this land forged as a newly arrived pom in 1966 and his mission to battle ecological imperatives such as climate change.
At the idea of turning 70, the Prince said, “I do know only too well the strange feeling of disbelief that this is actually happening. Never again, for instance, will it be possible to squeeze into a pair of budgie smugglers ... I don’t know about you, but now bits of me keep falling off.” On a more serious note, the Prince praised the Australian spirit and unique “mateship” that characterised those who fought in two world wars.
“Whenever it has been tested the Australian character has always come up trumps ... and your qualities of determination, tenacity and valour demonstrated so conspicuously on the Western Front are still evident today, as much exemplified by the firey’s helmet as of course the slouch hat,” he said.
“Over the years, I have met so many remarkable Australians doing the most extraordinary things in every imaginable corner of the globe. That is why I think Australia punches so much above her weight in so many different areas. Aussie values and the remarkable character of her people will always be a force for good in the world. And, as we try to address so many urgent challenges, she continues to offer an example for us all.
“Amidst all this, the Aussie character that is so exemplified by the concept of fairness and “fair go” is what I believe the world needs so desperately and so urgently – a “fair go” for people, our planet and for Nature herself.”
The room cheered and as his security moved to usher the Prince out, he couldn’t help but hold back for a few more hellos. And as the royal heads home to meet a new grandchild and host his youngest son’s wedding, following this tour Prince Charles can be certain of one thing. He will always receive a warm welcome in Australia.