Britain's King Charles Meets Cheering Australian Crowds, Says 'Great Joy' to Return

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla attend Church on a tour of Australia St Thomas' Anglican Church, North Sydney, Australia, October 20, 2024. Ian Vogler/Pool via REUTERS
Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla attend Church on a tour of Australia St Thomas' Anglican Church, North Sydney, Australia, October 20, 2024. Ian Vogler/Pool via REUTERS
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Britain's King Charles Meets Cheering Australian Crowds, Says 'Great Joy' to Return

Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla attend Church on a tour of Australia St Thomas' Anglican Church, North Sydney, Australia, October 20, 2024. Ian Vogler/Pool via REUTERS
Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla attend Church on a tour of Australia St Thomas' Anglican Church, North Sydney, Australia, October 20, 2024. Ian Vogler/Pool via REUTERS

Hundreds of well-wishers greeted Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla in Sydney on Sunday as the royal couple attended church, with the king saying it was a "great joy" to return to Australia in his first visit to an overseas realm as sovereign.

Charles' 16th official visit to Australia, where he attended school for six months as a teenager in 1966, is also his first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer, according to Reuters.

"What a great joy it is to come to Australia for the first time as sovereign and to renew a love of this country and its people which I have cherished for so long," he said in a speech at the New South Wales parliament.

New South Wales state lawmaker Kellie Sloane, whose electorate covers some of Sydney's most famous beaches, wrote on social media platform X after chatting with the king that he "sends his best to the 'amazing' surf clubs at Bondi Beach".

The royal couple were earlier greeted at St Thomas' Anglican Church by the archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel, and children from the church's Sunday school who waved Australian flags.

Camilla was given a flower bouquet by the minister's wife, Ellie Mantle, who asked if they had recovered from jet lag after the long flight to Australia on Friday. "Sort of," Camilla replied.

Inside the church, Charles and Camilla signed two bibles, including one that belonged to Australia's first minister and chaplain of the First Fleet of ships that took convicts from Britain to the penal colony of Australia in 1788.

Outside, the royal couple shook hands and chatted with a large crowd of cheering fans, some singing "God Save the King".

It was the public's first opportunity to meet Charles and Camilla since they arrived in Australia's biggest city on Friday night, and several hundred well wishers outnumbered a dozen protesters.

Travelling across Sydney Harbour, Charles visited the New South Wales parliament, marking the 200th anniversary of Australia's oldest legislature.

The king presented the lawmakers with an hour-glass to time their speeches, and highlighted the fundamental role of strong parliaments to democracies that serve today's diverse societies.

"Democracy has, I believe, an extraordinary capacity for innovation, compromise and adaptability as well as stability," he said.

The royal couple will travel to Canberra on Monday to meet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the national parliament and visit the Australian War Memorial.

Albanese met the couple on Friday at Admiralty House, the historic government harbourside residence where they are staying, for what he said was an informal drink and chat.

The king will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa after the six-day Australia tour.

Charles had made a significant personal donation to create a skills program to tackle climate change and boost higher education in small island states, including the Pacific Islands, the Association of Commonwealth Universities said on Sunday.

Mid-career professionals and civil servants will benefit from the fellowships, in a program that aims to retain talent in small island states and bolster resilience to the impacts of climate change such as rising sea levels.



Tourists and Locals Enjoy ‘Ephemeral’ Tokyo Cherry Blossoms

People take photos of cherry blossoms by Kudanzaka Park as the blossom viewing season begins in full in central Tokyo on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
People take photos of cherry blossoms by Kudanzaka Park as the blossom viewing season begins in full in central Tokyo on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
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Tourists and Locals Enjoy ‘Ephemeral’ Tokyo Cherry Blossoms

People take photos of cherry blossoms by Kudanzaka Park as the blossom viewing season begins in full in central Tokyo on March 31, 2025. (AFP)
People take photos of cherry blossoms by Kudanzaka Park as the blossom viewing season begins in full in central Tokyo on March 31, 2025. (AFP)

Tourists and Japanese locals marveled at Tokyo's cherry trees on Monday at the peak of the annual blossom season that traditionally represents fresh starts but also life's fleeting impermanence.

Crowds flocked to the city's top locations to take photos and hold picnics under the elegant dark branches bursting with pink and white flowers, known as "sakura" in Japanese.

"Honestly it feels pretty amazing to be here. It's honestly better than we expected. And it only comes around every once in a while and only for a short span of time," Christian Sioting, a tourist from the Philippines, told AFP.

"It's an ephemeral experience and we're pretty happy that we got to be here and to witness it in full bloom too."

The Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) on Sunday declared the country's most common and popular "somei yoshino" variety of cherry tree in full bloom in Tokyo.

Although this year's blooming dates are around the average, the JMA says climate change and the urban heat-island effect are causing sakura to flower approximately 1.2 days earlier every 10 years.

"Seeing photos is another thing, but being here, (to) really see the sakura in your eyes... it's really amazing," said Ralf Ng from Hong Kong.

A weak yen is attracting more visitors than ever to Japan, with national tourism figures released in January showing a record of about 36.8 million arrivals last year.

Tokyo resident Kayoko Yoshihara, 69, organizes annual flower-viewing picnics with her friends, including one held last week as the cherry trees began to bloom.

"After enduring the cold winter, the cherry blossoms bloom and it makes you feel like you're motivated to head towards summer," she told AFP.

Nurse Nanami Kobayashi, 31, said the peak of the blossom season left her without words.

"When the trees are at full bloom, it's so beautiful that you just become speechless," she said.