“You are not my king”

Britain’s King Charles III had just finished delivering a speech at Australia’s Parliament House on Monday when an Indigenous senator began shouting, “You are not my king.”

From the back of the chamber, independent senator Lydia Thorpe shouted to the royal couple: “Give us back our land, give us back what you stole” as security officers moved to escort her out.

The interjection came as King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the Australian capital Canberra to meet with the country’s leaders, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

In his speech, Charles expressed gratitude to Australia’s indigenous peoples, who lived on this land for tens of thousands of years before the arrival of British settlers more than 230 years ago.

“Throughout my life, Australia’s Indigenous people have been a great honor to me in sharing their stories and culture so generously,” Charles said.

“I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom.”

A traditional Aboriginal welcoming ceremony for the royal couple was previously held outside Parliament House, but for many of the country’s indigenous population they are not welcome.

The arrival of British settlers in Australia led to the massacre of indigenous peoples in hundreds of locations across the country until the 1930s. Their ancestors still suffer from racism and systemic discrimination in a country that has failed to reverse centuries of inequality.

Thorpe, a woman from Djab Wurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara, has long been a treaty advocate and has previously voiced her vehement objections to the British monarchy.

The Aboriginal people of Australia never ceded sovereignty and were never involved in a treaty process with the British Crown. Australia remains a Commonwealth country with the King as its head of state.

During her swearing-in ceremony in 2022, Thorpe referred to Australia’s then head of state as a “colonizing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II” and was asked to take the oath again.

She did this by raising one fist in the air.

Before shouting at Charles, Thorpe turned her back during a performance of “God Save the King,” Australian media reported. In the images, she was wearing a possum fur coat and standing in the opposite direction from other visitors.

The Green Party said in a statement that the king’s presence was “an important event for some” but also a “visual reminder of ongoing colonial trauma and the legacy of British colonialism” for many Indigenous people.

In a statement, Greens senator Dorinda Cox, a Yamatgi Noongar woman, called on the king to make clear his recognition and support for “Indigenous justice, truth and healing.”

“Now he needs to be on the right side of history,” she added.

The Australian Monarchy League demanded Thorpe’s resignation after what it called a “childish demonstration”.

The King and Queen have not commented on the scandal, but when asked about the incident, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Charles had done a “fantastic job”.

“In the context of health, we have to remember that he is doing his public service despite the health problems that he himself has had – so I think he is doing a great job,” Starmer told reporters on Monday.

Royal supporters and a sneezing alpaca

Charles and Camilla arrived in Sydney on Friday as part of the monarch’s first Commonwealth tour since taking the throne.

This is the king’s first long-distance trip abroad since his cancer diagnosis earlier this year and his schedule is said to have been eased on doctor’s advice.

Monday’s walk was a flurry of activity that began with a meeting with supporters, many of whom waved Australian flags.

Among them was an alpaca named Hefner, who caught the king’s eye and promptly sneezed on him.

Royal fan Chloe Pailthorpe, 44, said she was delighted with the royal tour and had been writing to the royal family since she was 10.

“We just love what the royals do and how they impact local communities, and we support what we do through volunteering and just community service,” she told news agency Agence France-Presse.

A 21-gun salute marked the king’s arrival at the Houses of Parliament, and in his speech Albanese praised the royal couple for their charitable work.

He also commented on the king’s early assessment of the “grave reality of climate change” and the need for people to “take meaningful and effective action against it.”

To reflect his interest in the environment, the king was invited to plant trees in the Houses of Parliament and the Botanic Gardens.

The royal couple’s next stop will be Sydney on Tuesday, where they will hold a public reception outside the Opera House before heading to Samoa for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the king’s first meeting as head of the organization.

This story has been updated with additional events. CNN’s Angus Watson contributed reporting.

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