You can do your own Royal Tour of Sydney and retrace the steps of King Charles & Queen Camilla

With a trail of fans—and protestors—behind them, King Charles and Queen Camilla are in the midst of a whirlwind five-day tour that has seen them jump from Canberra to Sydney with a packed itinerary that includes the Australian War Memorial, Kirribilli, Parramatta and the Sydney Opera House.

Supporters have been scrambling to trace the royal tour of Australia, although most of the media coverage has surrounded the controversy, from politicians yelling at the King to protestors following the Monarchy throughout.

If you’re wondering where King Charles and Queen Camilla went during their time in Australia, you’ve come to the right place.

Sydney Travel Guide has traced the steps of the Royal tour, which has been jam-packed with what the Prime Minister calls the “best of Australia.”

Five days does seem rather short for the King and Queen in Australia, but King Charles’ ongoing cancer treatment is the reason for the slimmed-down itinerary. The initial plan was for them to visit Australia, New Zealand and perhaps a few other countries around the South Pacific.

If you look at previous Royal itineraries of Australia, you’ll notice just how restrained this one is.

Reportedly, the King hit the pause button on his ongoing cancer treatment to head down under, which explains why the schedule was relaxed.

Still, the King and Queen have been quite busy down under. The first two days were largely uneventful with Charles and Camilla shying away from the public.

Below, we’ll focus on the final three days of the trip so you’ve got an idea of exactly what the “best of Australia” entails.


Sunday, October 20 in Sydney

While Charles and Camilla arrived in Australia on Friday, October 18, it wasn’t until Sunday that the public started to get a glimpse of the royals, whose last visit to Australia was in 2018.

This is the King’s first long-haul, multi-country trip since he was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. We can only assume Friday and Saturday were largely rest days for the King.

It was initially assumed that the King and Queen would make an appearance at The Everest racing carnival in Randwick for the King Charles III Stakes but they never showed up. Instead, the royal couple were spotted exploring the grounds of Admiralty House in Kirribilli around 10am.

With them supposedly staying in Kirribilli, Charles and Camilla started their Sunday by visiting the nearby St Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney at around 11:30am. Unsurprisingly, a large crowd of both royalists and protestors gathered on the lawns outside the church.

From there, the royals’ motorcade and security detail moved the church to Parliament House on Macquarie Street in Sydney CBD. Charles was reportedly given a tour by the legislative council’s president, Ben Franklin.

Notably, the NSW legislative council is celebrating its bicentenary this year, which is most likely the reason for the royal visit.


Monday, October 21 in Canberra

The Royals made their way down to our nation’s capital for an even busier schedule on Monday. The pair were greeted by Indigenous elders and schoolchildren at the local airport before making their way to the Australian War Memorial to pay their respects in private.

At around 12:35pm, Charles and Camilla paid a visit to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander memorial, For Our Country, which is a memorial pavilion at the Australian War Memorial built to commemorate the sacrifices made by First Nations people during the war.

Outside the Australian War Memorial, the King and Queen took around 30 minutes to meet and greet with the public. This is about when the most infamous moment of the tour (so far, at least) happened, with Hephner, a 9-year-old alpaca dressed in regal attire, sneezing on the King and catching him off guard.

This was shortly followed by a ceremonial welcome at Parliament House around 1pm, which was open to the public with people greeting their majesties on the forecourt at 2:10pm.

In the latter part of the day, King Charles and Queen Camilla reportedly divided duties. Charles addressed a reception of political and community leaders, followed by a meeting with CSIRO National Bushfire Research Centre scientists and firefighters.

Queen Camilla, on the other hand, joined a discussion with domestic violence advocates and met with representatives from the GIVIT charity, which is purposed towards providing support to those in need with items, services and vouchers.

Somewhere in between, the King and Queen managed to squeeze in a private visit to the Australian National Botanic Gardens.


Tuesday, October 22 in Sydney

The pair popped back to Sydney for their final day in Australia before heading off to Samoa on Wednesday for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Still unfolding at the time of publishing, this is their busiest day yet, kicking off with a community BBQ in Parramatta Park in celebration of Australia’s cultural diversity and local NSW produce.

Stalwart chef Adam Liaw manned the tongs for the Aussie tradition, while restaurateur and Gogglebox star Jad Nehmetallah also catered the event through his restaurant, Misc, which is located in Parramatta Park.

Also on the day, King Charles met with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives and advocacy groups to learn more about supporting the local community and Australia’s first peoples.

Camilla reportedly has plans to visit a local library to meet with children who are participating in the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition workshop. The King will also meet with Australians of the Year Professor Georgina Long AO and Professor Richard Scolyer AO to learn about their advanced cancer research.

Finally, the pair will head back to the Sydney CBD to greet supporters before making their way to the Sydney Opera House forecourt.

The public will have one final chance to farewell the royals as they board the Admiral Hudson naval vessel from the Man O’War steps for a Fleet Review of five ships – Hobart, WarramungaArunta, Gascoyne and Yarra.


Best of Australia? We think he missed some of the best.

There are many royalists out there who would love to recreate the royal itinerary and follow in the footsteps of the King and Queen. Of course, some of these activities aren’t as accessible to the public, but peopleespecially touristsmay feel inspired by the pair’s several stops around Sydney and Canberra.

But does it showcase the “best of Australia” like the Prime Minister claimed? Not really. To our knowledge, the King didn’t get a chicken roll from Clem’s in Newtown or have breakfast at Pina in Potts Point.

If you do want to recreate the King and Queen’s movements in Australia, then take note that Canberra is only a three-hour drive outside of Sydney. You could easily visit all the commoner-accessible spots over a weekend.


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