King Charles ends his trip to Australia with a party in Sydney

(UPDATE) SYDNEY, Australia —The United Kingdom’s King Charles III welcomed throngs of fans into the sails of the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday, the public finale of his first major overseas tour since his cancer diagnosis.

The 75-year-old head of state toured the eastern Australian city on his last full day in office, meeting with rescue workers, sheepdogs and cancer scientists, before stopping in the sparkling waters of Sydney Harbour.

Thousands of people gathered outside the opera house with umbrellas to shield themselves from the midday sun, hoping for a brief meeting with the monarch.

Salute to Charles King Charles III and Queen Camilla pose for a group photo during a visit to the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, eastern Australia, October 22, 2024. PHOTO AFP

Fresh from being named an admiral of the Navy over the weekend, Charles sailed from the iconic landmark to inspect a flotilla of guided-missile destroyers and coastal mine hunters.

A former trainee pilot who crashed an RAF plane in remote north-west Scotland now holds a five-star rank in each of the service’s Australian branches.

Brass bands chanted “God Save the King” before a fleet of helicopters and fighter jets flew over the harbor in a final gesture.

Police arrested a 60-year-old man outside the opera house ahead of the king’s arrival, alleging he had behaved in an “abusive and threatening manner”.

The six-day trip, including three days of public duties, was shortened so as not to complicate Charles’s recovery from cancer.

Sausage sizzle

Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of the disease in February and did not speak publicly about his illness during the tour.

But he didn’t shy away from it entirely: he stopped by a research center in Sydney where oncologists are developing new treatments for melanoma.

Lifeguards at Sydney’s Bondi Beach earlier watched as the “flexitarian” king, who gives up meat and fish two days a week, flipped sausages at a public barbecue.

“It’s a special pleasure to see and smell all the top dachshunds here today,” he told the crowd, paying tribute to Australia’s much-loved red wine, Broken Avoidance and Taxi Sav. “So thank you everyone for coming to join us today on this Barbie.”

In a makeshift field nearby, the king watched Australian working dogs compete to corral flocks of sheep.

On his first trip to Australia as king – and the first visit by a reigning monarch in 13 years – Charles always found it difficult to live up to the royal opulence of the past.

It was at the Opera House in 1983 that the then Prince Charles and his 21-year-old wife Diana were mobbed by thousands of fans desperate to see the “people’s princess.”

Australians are a far cry from the enthusiastic supporters they were in 2011, when thousands gathered to catch a white-gloved wave from Charles’ mother Elizabeth II.

Charles began the day in the Sydney suburb of Redfern, where one of Australia’s most significant indigenous rights movements was born.

Warm welcome

He received a warmer welcome than the previous day, when the Indigenous senator stunned guests at Australia’s parliament in the capital Canberra by shouting at the king to “give us back our land.”

Charles first visited Australia as an awkward teenager in 1966 and has now set foot in the sun-drenched country 17 times.

He regaled Australian lawmakers with stories of snakes, spiders and being forced to eat the “obscene parts” of a steer.

Alpaca “Hefner” can now be added to that list after he sneezed on Charles when he stopped to shake hands near the Australian War Memorial.

The first hitch happened before the tour even started.

Plans to project a montage of images of Charles on the sails of the Sydney Opera House were briefly put on hold because the view was obscured by the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship.

Charles will leave Australia on Wednesday for the Pacific island nation of Samoa, where he will attend the annual meeting of the 56 Commonwealth countries.