King Charles III Australian tour: Senator Lidia Thorpe’s expletive-alden rant mars warm Canberra reception
Senator Lidia Thorpe was thrown out of a formal reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla inside Parliament House after launching an expletive-laden rant at the monarch.
The King was walking away from the podium after saying his final words in the Great Hall when Senator Thorpe marched up the centre aisle of the room towards the stage before launching into an extraordinary spray.
“This is not your land,” Senator Thorpe yelled. “You are not my King. “F… the colony.
Senator Thorpe continued on her tirade as she was escorted out of the room by security staff.
“You are not our king, you are not our sovereign,” she said. “You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land rights.
“Give us our land back that you f…ing stole from us. Our babies, our people, you destroyed our land. It’s not your land.
“We want a treaty in this country.”
Earlier in the day, Senator Thorpe was nearly arrested at an Indigenous protest outside the war memorial.
King Charles turned to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and talked quietly on the podium as security moved to prevent Senator Thorpe from approaching the monarch.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who attended the event, expressed his dismay at the protest.
“It’s unfortunate political exhibitionism, that’s all I’d say,” he said after the event.
Another of the guests, Victoria Cross recipient Keith Payne, was highly critical of Senator Thorpe for disrupting the reception.
“I was absolutely amazed that she got through the door,” he said.
Camera IconSenator Lidia Thorpe disrupts proceedings before being ejected from the event. Credit: Pool/Getty Images
“That was uncalled for and un-Australian.”
Payne, who was awarded the highest military honour for his service in Vietnam, was one of the guests who spoke with the King as the royal couple left the reception.
Thorpe was a guest at the event as an elected Victorian Senator.
Another guest, businessman Dick Smith, said the disruption was an aspect of Australian democracy.
“I think that’s the wonderful part of our democracy — that she’s not going to be put in jail,” he said.
Smith has known the King for many years, including a meeting in 1982 when Smith landed his helicopter on the grounds of Balmoral Castle in the United Kingdom.
Camera IconLidia Thorpe was involved in a tussle with a police officer earlier in the day. Credit: Unknown/Supplied
Outside Parliament House, about 500 people gathered on the forecourt and more on the sloping lawns up the sides of the building.
Some clutched flowers while others waved Australian flags. A couple of rows of Union Jack bunting adorned some of the barriers and, on the other side of the forecourt, a poster reading: “Welcome home Your Majesty”.
Several hundred people gathered in the Great Hall to welcome the King and Queen to a parliamentary reception hosted by Mr Albanese and his partner, Jodie Haydon.
The royal couple entered the hall after signing the Parliament House visitor book in the Marble Foyer and walked in to the sounds of a didgeridoo played by Bevan Smith, a local Indigenous man.
They signed three visitors’ books, smiling and laughing with Mr Albanese and Ms Haydon during the process. King Charles used his own fountain pen for the task.
His mother, Queen Elizabeth II signed the visitors’ book in the same location at the opening of Parliament House in 1988.
Camera IconChildren wave flags as King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive. Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Native flowers and the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags flanked the ornate table where the royals sat.
They were joined by Federal and State MPS. eminent Australians and representatives from the King’s charities who assembled for the first event of its kind since his mother attended a parliamentary reception in the Great Hall in 2011.
The King and Mr Albanese led the official party into the hall, while Queen Camilla was accompanied by Ms Haydon. The procession included the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Milton Dick, and the President of the Senate, Sue Lines.
Those attending the reception included former prime minister John Howard and his wife Janette, former deputy PM Julie Bishop, horse trainer Gai Waterhouse, mining executive Andrew Forrest, Linfox founder Lindsay Fox, and Olympic kayaker and gold medallist Jess Fox.
The two Australians of the Year, Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer, also attended.
A senior Ngunnawal elder, Aunty Violet, greeted their majesties and guests with a Welcome to Country, and she was joined by the Wiradjuri Echoes, a family-run group that teaches Indigenous dancing and culture.
Camera IconBritain’s King Charles III chats with the owner of an alpaca before leaving the Australian War Memorial. Credit: Mark Baker/AAPIMAGE
The Australian National Anthem was sung by the Woden Valley Youth Choir in English and Ngunnawal.
In remarks that were televised live, the King paid tribute to the progress Australia had made since his first visit to the country in 1966.
Many of those assembled in the Great Hall raised their mobile phones to take photographs of the royal couple as they left the reception, while others smiled and thanked the King and Queen.
Their majesties walked to the forecourt of Parliament House to greet members of the public before proceeding to other events.
Earlier in the day, King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived at the Australian War Memorial with loud cheers from several hundred onlookers.
More than 1000 people, several dogs — and one alpaca — were in the crowd to greet the King and Queen. They were also treated to several renditions of God Save the King from an at-times passionate crowd on the memorial’s lawns.
Camera IconCharles and Camilla visit the Australian War Memorial. Credit: Pool/Getty Images
Queen Camilla was wearing a white silk crepe court dress by Anna Valentine; a diamond and pearl brooch worn previously by Queen Elizabeth II and the Queen Mother.
Charles wore a blue suit with medals pinned to his chest on the left.
The King and Queen were welcomed to the memorial by Governor-General Sam Mostyn and Australian War Memorial council chair, Kim Beazley.
They laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier before a rendition of the Last Post.
While inside the tomb, Mr Beazley spoke to Charles showcasing parts of the structure, while chatter picked up within the delegation.
Camera IconCharles holds a bouquet of flowers after arriving. Credit: Pool/Getty Images
The Royals and their companions were then escorted out of the tomb to place a poppy on the Roll of Honour. King Charles’ poppy was placed next to World War I soldier Punch WJ while Camilla’s was placed next to Johnson WJ.
The royal couple then spent more than 30 minutes talking to the gathered crowd.
Among those on hand to welcome their Majesties was 94-year-old Evelyn Botha who as a school girl presented a bouquet of roses to Princess Margaret – the King’s aunt – during a visit to her homeland of Scotland.
A few years later, Evelyn’s sister Olga presented a similar bouquet to the then Princess Elizabeth.
Evelyn, born in the Scottish town of Perth, has only been in Australia for four months. She had been in Queensland until Saturday, flying down to see the King and Queen before moving to nearby Goulburn.
Another in the crowd was Fremantle-based Cliff Chapman.
Sporting a kilt and a seal-skin sporran, Mr Chapman said he was on holiday and decided to stand in the Canberra sunshine to catch a glimpse of the King and Queen.
Camera IconJodie Haydon, Queen Camilla, King Charles III and Anthony Albanese at the Parliamentary reception. Credit: Pool/Getty Images
Asked why he was the only person in the crowd wearing a kilt, he said: “I thought it would stand out a bit.”
One creature to stand out was Hephner the alpaca, well known in Canberra for his charity work.
Wearing his own small crown, King Charles seemed surprised to be eye-level with the white nine-year-old animal.
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