King and Queen arrive in Australia for historic visit

Sydney Opera House will light up in royals’ honour as monarch arrives for his first overseas tour since cancer diagnosis

The King and Queen have arrived in Sydney for the start of their historic visit to Australia.
It is the King’s first visit to a realm as monarch, his first overseas tour since his cancer diagnosis, and the first time a King of Australia has stepped on its soil.
Carrying umbrellas to shelter from the rain, the King and Queen walked down the steps of a Royal Australian Air Force plane in Sydney just after 8.30pm local time on Friday.
The Queen, following a tradition of diplomatic dressing made famous by Queen Elizabeth II, wore a royal blue silk crepe dress by Fiona Clare, accessorised with the Australian wattle brooch – a gift from the Australian people to the late Queen.
The King and Queen were greeted on the tarmac by a welcoming party including a young boy called Ky, 12, who was there with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and presented a posy.
Ky has received chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant from his older sister after being diagnosed with aplastic anaemia. His sister Charlotte, who helped save his life, was there too.
The decision to include the youngsters will be particularly poignant for the King, who is still undergoing treatment for cancer, and the Queen, who has supported him through it.
The Royal couple, who walked down the steps one after the other, King first, were officially welcomed by Sam Mostyn, the governor-general of the Commonwealth of Australia, and her husband, Simeon Beckett.
They were then greeted by a party of dignitaries including Margaret Beazley, the governor of New South Wales, Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, and Chris Minns, the premier of New South Wales.
The last official arrival of a sovereign took place on 19 Oct 2011, when Queen Elizabeth II visited.
Ahead of their trip, in a message posted on social media, signed Charles R & Camilla R, they said: “Ahead of our first visit to Australia as King and Queen, we are really looking forward to returning to this beautiful country to celebrate the extraordinarily rich cultures and communities that make it so special. See you there!”
It accompanied a video montage of royal visits to Australia, including of the late Queen and Prince Philip, and the young Prince Charles.
Ahead of our first visit to Australia as King and Queen, we are really looking forward to returning to this beautiful country to celebrate the extraordinarily rich cultures and communities that make it so special. See you there! – Charles R & Camilla R.🎞️ Footage: British… pic.twitter.com/zALxP59lGF
The King and Queen landed in Australia on Friday evening local time with the Sydney Opera House set to light up with images of royal visits past in their honour.
The late Queen visited many times. Her father George VI travelled there only before he acceded to the throne under the title of Duke of York.
The King has previously made 15 official visits as a Prince, as well as spending two terms at a rural campus school when he was 17.
The social media video, created by Buckingham Palace from old footage, shows three minutes of tours across the decades.
It limits itself to visits by Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and the Queen when she was Duchess of Cornwall. 
It does not include footage of trips by the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with baby Prince George, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, or those including Diana, Princess of Wales.
This time, the programme includes meeting patients at a hospital to highlight cancer research, mirroring the King’s first UK engagement after his own cancer treatment.
He will meet Prof Georgina Long and Prof Richard Scolyer, named as Australians of the year 2024, in recognition of their pivotal work on melanoma, one of Australia’s most common cancers.
Other highlights of the trip will see the royal couple attend a community barbecue in western Sydney.
They will spend a day in the capital Canberra meeting leading figures and paying their respects to the country’s war dead.
Next week, they will fly to Samoa for a four-day state visit and join world leaders who are taking part in a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which the monarch will open.
The King, who is head of the Commonwealth, has held “pre-CHOGM” calls with a number of foreign leaders including the King of Malaysia, Julius Maada Bio, the president of Sierra Leone, Gaston Browne, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, and Hakainde Hichilema, the president of Zambia.
Following the King’s cancer diagnosis earlier this year, the overseas tour has been curtailed on doctors’ advice, with a visit to New Zealand dropped from the itinerary and other changes made to the programme.
The King will also pause his cancer treatment during the 11 days he is away from the UK.
The King and Queen will face potential controversies including renewed calls from republicans to cut ties with the monarchy and elect an Australian head of state. 
They also face growing pressure for slave trade reparations due to be heard at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, and a request from indigenous communities to support their campaign for the return of “stolen” artefacts now in British museums.