King Charles to visit Australia in late October
The King’s visit to Australia will be His Majesty’s first to a Realm as Monarch and just a few weeks after Queensland celebrates his birthday.
In September, Buckingham Palace announced that Their Majesties The King and Queen will undertake an Autumn Tour from Friday 18th – Saturday 26th October 2024.
This will include a Royal Visit to Australia, State Visit to The Independent State of Samoa and attendance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2024.
The King’s visit to Australia will be His Majesty’s first to a Realm as Monarch, whilst the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa is the first The King will attend as Head of the Commonwealth.
His Majesties longstanding passion for the environment and climate change will be marked with a tour of the National Botanic Gardens on Black Mountain, and a meeting with scientists at the CSIRO researching the impact of bushfires and the resilience of the environment to bounce back from devastation.
Visiting Australia
His Majesty first visited Australia in 1966 as Prince Charles, and is said to have a strong personal affection for Australia.
He has travelled to Australia 15 times in an official capacity, most recently in 2018 to open the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and spend time in the Northern Territory.
Visiting the Sunshine Coast
In 1974, the then Prince Charles enjoyed our beautiful beaches when he went surfing at Maroochydore in 1974. Both Prince Charles and Harry are said to remember their visits fondly and would like to return to our beautiful region.
If you were raised on the Sunshine Coast you may remember the crowds in 1983 when Princess Diana and Prince Charles toured the region. Crowds lined the Sunshine Coast streets to catch a glimpse of the very popular then Lady Di. The royal party attended a luncheon and also enjoyed a visit to Buderim Ginger and Nambour’s Sunshine Plantation’s Big Pineapple.
Visit Council's Heritage website to learn more about Sunshine Coast heritage including other royal visits to the Sunshine Coast.
What is Trooping the Colour?
While Australia celebrates the King's birthday with a public holiday, in England, they celebrate with a parade called Trooping the Colour.
In addition to his actual birth date of November 14, King Charles is fêted each year with public festivities of his birthday in June with a parade known as Trooping the Colour.
The reason for the June date is simply due to the better weather at this time of year.
According to the Household Division, the tradition of the British monarch having both an actual birthday and an "official" birthday dates back to the reign of the current monarch's namesake predecessor, King Charles II, who ruled from 1660 to 1685.
In 1748, it was decided that this parade would be used to mark the official birthday of the monarch, and Trooping the Colour became an annual event during the reign of King George III.
The name comes from officers displaying their "colours," the flags representing the different regiments in the British Army, according to the Household Division. The parade's origins trace back to the battlefield, when a regiment's colours signaled a rallying point for soldiers, according to the Royal Museums Greenwich.
"In order to ensure that every soldier would be able to recognize their colours, the flag would be marched or 'trooped' regularly 'round the ranks," they state. "A regiment’s colours came to have huge significance for serving soldiers, and the gain or loss of colours were seen as decisive moments in battle."