Buckingham Palace has released details of King and Queen’s tour of Australia and Samoa, but the trip will not include New Zealand.
An earlier plan to include a visit to New Zealand had to be cancelled “on doctor’s advice”, with “tough decisions” taken on the remainder of the programme for the trip, which will take place from 18-26 October.
With the King‘s ongoing cancer treatment, “subtle adjustments” have been made to the busy schedule to allow time for rest.
The King and Queen’s nine-day trip will take in Sydney, Canberra and Apia to “celebrate the best” of both Australia and Samoa.
It will be the King’s 17th official trip to Australia and his first to Samoa.
Pic: PA
Australia will also be the first Commonwealth realm he has visited as monarch.
The couple will carry out a number of engagements, many of which will reflect their personal interests.
In Canberra, they will be welcomed to the Australian parliament by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has long-standing republican views.
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They will also lay a wreath at the Australian War Memorial, and visit the “For our Country” memorial, dedicated to the service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
The royal couple will attend a barbeque in Sydney and visit the iconic opera house perched on the harbour.
And perhaps most poignantly the King, who revealed he had cancer in February, will meet two cancer doctors. Both are Australians of the Year who were recognised for their work on skin cancer.
Australia currently has the world’s highest rates of melanoma.
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After the Australian leg of the tour, the couple will travel to Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
This will be the first time the King has attended as head of the Commonwealth, a role he took over from the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The State Opening of Parliament.
Pic: Reuters
Some had questioned whether this trip would take place after the King announced his cancer diagnosis in February.
His only overseas visit since then was to Normandy in June for the D-Day commemorations.
A state banquet isn’t part of the schedule, but the King will host a black-tie and traditional dress dinner for Commonwealth leaders.
Although the King and Queen will meet members of the public, palace officials have been advised against using the term “walkabout” which has a very different meaning for indigenous Australians.
For indigenous people, a “walkabout” is a rite of passage to mark one’s shift from adolescence to adulthood.
Source Agencies
