The Royals with Roya and Kate - The King and Queen down under

Episode Date: October 19, 2024

King Charles and Queen Camilla arrived in Sydney during a very British downpour and amid feverish debate about the future of the monarchy in Australia. But what do the Aussies really think? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Times Tech podcast sponsored by ServiceNow. A podcast presented from San Francisco and from London. Each week, a fresh interview with pioneers in tech from the brightest startups to the tech giants. That's the Times Tech podcast where Danny in the Valley, that's Silicon Valley, meets me, Katie, in the city, the city of London. Exploring how tech is changing life and business in this new world of artificial intelligence. The Times Tech podcast with Katie Prescott and Danny Fortson. Follow us now wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, welcome back to the Royals for our first dispatch from Sydney. I'm Roya Neekar. And I'm Kate Mancy and we are in Sydney for the Royal Tour, the King's first of a Commonwealth

realm. More specifically, we're in my hotel room. Apparently Royer's is bigger, I have learned, but haven't been invited there. You sound like Prince Harry in Spen. You've got the extra sausage. Do you reckon we'll get 417 pages out of this? Let's hope so. Well, we could do with a few pages,

couldn't we, if a few words of copy? I'd like to tell you, listener, that we have the dramatic backdrop of a Sydney Opera House behind us. We don't. If you lean quite far out of the window, because there's a sliver of sea in the distance. Don't think you can open these windows, can you? Probably not. Anyway, we're here, and that's the main thing. We've made it down under, and so have the King and Queen.

Sunny Sydney, they arrived last night. Fake news, fake news. We got here in time to see the RAAF jet pulling in. In the pouring torrential rain. They missed an absolute downpour because just before they landed there was this huge thunderstorm, thunder and lightning. We got absolutely soaked. We didn't miss it, did we? My shoes are still wet. 24 hours later. So for any of you who want to know what it's like being on an overseas tour, your shoes are often wet. You need a good coat, you need a pencil because you can't actually write with a biro in the rain but you can with a pencil.

Good reporter trick. That's very true. Should I tell you another good reporter trick? Kay Burley from Sky News. Have a coat. Which Kay Burley from Sky News once taught me. It doesn't work in the rain but it does work if you're very cold and standing on a fixed point for a long time. You put a bit of April paper under your shoes and it makes it less cold. Your feet don't get really really cold. Really? Yeah. Fixed point for anyone for anybody who might not have known what one is, is where they put you when you're not allowed to move but you are allowed to see something that's happening in front of you such as a massive jet landing on the tarmac in front of you. They don't want journalists running around hither and thither for very good reasons in that instance. But they came and I always feel for the Royal Family when they have to come down the steps because it's that moment everybody's looking at them.

You've been flying for 17 hours at least. Yes and they were picked up in Singapore, brought over to Sydney and the steps were wet and Camilla looked quite kind of gingerly stepping down the steps. Charles wasn't hanging around for her. He was getting down the steps and he was like, around for her, was he? He was getting down the steps, and he was like, come on love, we've got to be going. But it was interesting because they had the lineup, they were met by Sam Mostyn, the Governor General of Australia.

Republican. Republican. Introduced to the Prime Minister, who is- Anthony Albanese, Republican. Introduced to the Premier of New South Wales, Chris Mintz, who is a Republican! Yeah, so it was a very Republican welcome.

And Chris Mintz has said before they arrived that, yes, he was a Republican, but he was still going to give them a warm welcome. And he said, I'm going to be on my best behavior. It was a classic move of its genre though, because on all these tours, and you and I have done a few, I remember the last Australian tour was Harry and Meghan in 2018 that I did. There were a lot of Republicans milling around, all of whom were longing to constantly be in shop with them.

And yesterday, what I thought was quite interesting and tickled me a bit was that Chris Minns brought his mum along to meet the King and Queen at the steps of the blade. It's like, oh we don't really want you with our head of state, but if you're coming I'm going to bring my mum along to meet you. You know? Well I think there's the glamour of it isn't there? I think there is quite a grown-up conversation here in Australia about becoming a republic. It's not kind of we want to get rid of the British monarchy. The idea is, you know, good for you. You know, you do you. We will do what

we want to do, which was become a republic. But that conversation has been has stalled somewhat we've discussed it before about how there was a referendum on the voice, giving indigenous people more access to government last year. And that failed. And it was a big defeat for Albanese's government. He had come to power saying that he was going to have a referendum on a republic. So many prime ministers and heads of state do though, don't they? But yeah, but after that defeat has decided that perhaps going to kick that into the long grass, had a minister for the republic Matt Thistleswaite decided perhaps no he

wouldn't do that, has axed that post, Thistleswaite's been moved on to a different brief and even now the Trade Minister has said last week even now if they win a next election they're not going to have a referendum, it costs around 150 million people estimate to have a referendum, everyone here in Australia has to vote. So it's not- It's compulsory. It's not just been kicked into the long grass. It's been kicked into touch.

It's been, yeah, it's out of the pitch, isn't it? It's way out of the pitch. There was some interesting imagery yesterday before Charles and Camilla landed, wasn't there? They put out, as we were in the briefing, talking through logistics of fixed points and bus routes, the glamour, the glamour. Charles and Camilla posted a very rare sign, jointly signed,

post on their social media feeds and it said this, ahead of our first visit to Australia as King and Queen, we're 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 are and Camilla R for Rex and Regina. And what's that underneath? It's a lovely video. It was a wonderful montage, wasn't it? Of family memories.

Of Charles and Camilla's previous tours, of Her Late Majesty's previous tours, of Charles and Princess Anne when they were younger going with Elizabeth and Philip. So it was rather warm and there was this lovely moment wasn't there when as they arrived or just before they arrived the sails of the Sydney Opera House were illuminated with images of their previous trips. Yeah it was supposed to be just before they arrived they arrived at 8.30 and it was supposed to start at 8 but there was a ship blocking the projector so there was the Queen Elizabeth ship which was blocking in between the projector on the land and the Sydney Opera House, the famous shells or sails

or whatever you want to call them. Metaphorical, didn't it? That couldn't move because of the bad weather which we discussed, but they couldn't move that ship so the projector couldn't beam onto. So that was about an hour late, but it did look really spectacular actually. It did. We went and had a look, didn't we? Yeah, we did. It was great. It was great. And there's some 21 pictures going back to 1966. Guess which pictures I like.

Of the Prince and Princess. Were the horses involved? Yeah. The Camilla petting the horse. Yeah. Yeah, that was nice. Yeah. I like the one, the Chris Jackson image of the poppies at the War Memorial in Canberra, which we're going to see later this week. We sure are. Well, next week it's all blurring into one with all the jet lag. But I thought it was an interesting, it was a very British welcome. It was raining.

There were some damp flags being waved on the route. The King went to then have a cup of tea with Albanese and it was a sort of an informal moment that the formal reception will come later in the tour. But upon arrival, he went and had this kind of cup of tea moment with the Prime Minister at Admiralty House. And from there, we're told that they could see those images on the Opera House. Yeah. And Chris Minns, the Premier, who we said, you know, talked about for, he had said that they shouldn't have this illumination of the Opera House to mark the coronation last year,

but he's granted it this time around because they're here on Australian soil. Because he wanted to come with his mum and meet them. And can my mum come as my plus one? And if he'd said, no lights on the Opera House, that'd have been a bit of orcs, right? Apparently it costs 50 grand to project those from kind of 8 p.m. till midnight,

which is sort of the time zone. But he thought it was obviously worth splashing a bit of cash on that for this trip, and I think it did look spectacular, until midnight, which is that sort of the time zone. But he thought it was obviously worth splashing a bit of cash on that for this trip. And I think it did look spectacular and it was a good arrival from that point of view. Yeah. What has been interesting,

Kate and I have been here for the last few days, just sort of feeling the mood music on the ground. And it's been interesting sort of looking at some of the news here and the speculation around whether or not we'd see them today because today they've taken a down day but a lot of Australians, a lot of people in Sydney were absolutely desperate to see them at the races weren't they? There was a big race meeting there today. There was a big meeting at Randwick, the Royal Randwick Racecourse and there's a race called

the King Charles of Third Stakes named in a certain someone's honour and all week there was speculation that they might turn up and actually even in today's papers there was still speculation. The policy yesterday is saying no no definitely not going definitely not going. No and it's... But they've enjoyed the speculation I think the Australians even on the front page page of the weekend Australian today, it's saying Oh, you know, I think it's been a trick to try and get more race goers to the course Well, I think it's hasn't done the PR for the race any harm at all has it this idea that perhaps the king might go What if it had it would have been great if they had say fun. It would have been really good fun

It would have been a great time. Maybe next time. Anyway today's been a much needed down day Mm-hmm, and the tour really starts in earnest doesn't it on Sunday. Yeah. And that's going to be the big first time they do a rebranded opportunity to meet the people because we don't call them walkabouts. Not allowed to call them a walkabout particularly on this trip, no. No, exactly. So what do we think the mood is here? I think it doesn't feel like it's sort of huge, huge excitement or indifference. It's sort of somewhere in the middle. Yeah, I think people are pleased to see them and see the crowds at church tomorrow, when we see the crowds at the Opera House later this week, which is always the kind of big moment when they go to the Opera House.

I remember being here. We were here ten years ago with King. We were here ten years ago with William and... We're not taking William. Oh, Buckley and Bows might try and cut that, bitch! Cut, cut! We were here ten years ago with William and Kate and baby George, baby G. Who was dubbed the Republican Slayer. George and the, yeah, George the Republican Slayer was a good headline. But he, but that, that's always a big moment when they go on the upper house steps. But I was asked the other day in an interview, what would be, how would the palace describe this? What would be a success for this visit, for the palace?

And I said, well, actually, him just getting here, that's a success. It's a big gesture, isn't it? Given the year that he's had, that the royal family's had in general, the fact that he's paused his cancer treatments to come here, the year that he's had, that the Royal Family's had in general, the fact that he's paused his cancer treatments to come here, the fact that he's been ill, the fact that it's the first long haul, the fact that it's the first visit by a reigning-

A king of Australia. We've never had a king of Australia here. We've never had a reigning king visit. No, King George VI came when he was Duke of York. Yep. But I think, well, the first monarchy to, reigning monarch to come since the Queen came in 2011. It's been a long time. It's the first time he's been to the country since 2018.

So I think the fact that he's here at all is something of a success. And he, you know, they've made much of the fact that it's the 17th visit by the King to the country. He's got a long history going back with the country. He came here to Geelong Grammar School. So I think that is, you know, I think we're gonna see a lot of that. I think we're gonna see the king reminding the Australians of the connection. Well we saw that. We saw that even as they arrived and they were walking down the steps of the plane and Camilla was wearing

the late Queen's wattle broach, diamond and gold wattle broach, which was given to Elizabeth by the people of Australia and the government of Australia during her 1954 Commonwealth tour. Nice touch. Very nice, subtle, but very obvious diplomatic nod to the crown's ties with Australia. And I think we're going to see more of that and hear more of that throughout the trip, because I think the King, we're going to hear a lot about the late Queen from the King in some of his speeches while he's here. I think he will evoke the memory of the late Queen and, you know, remind. There was a very wonderful quote that Malcolm Turnbull once said, the former Australian Prime Minister, that he was a Republican but an Elizabethan. And I think,

said the former Australian Prime Minister that he was a Republican but an Elizabethan. And I think, you know, Is he a Republican but a Carolian? We will determine that towards the end of the next few days, I think. Australians will decide whether they are Carolians or not. They might decide in their hearts, but they won't decide at the ballots for some time because that, as we've said, the referendum has kicked into touch. That has gone. Should we have a few break? Yeah.

What do we have instead of a fanfare in Australia? Well, the people I've spoken to on the street, in taxis, buses and things like that, since I've been in country, have been kind of pro the royal family as people. Some of them, one guy said to me that he thought once the queen had died, that he was pretty confident and happy that Australia might naturally move

towards a republic and he was happy for that. But since Charles has come in, he's had a bit of a change of heart and actually thinks he's a pretty good guy, he's done a good job and but his wife he said didn't like Camilla and I think and is very pro Diana and I think if there is a lot of that that she was blockbuster on tours here wasn't she? Yeah 1983 when they came and you could see already the strain between Charles and Diana. It was

sort of a world apart, you know, they were walking when you could still walk on Uluru on what used to be called Ayers Rock. They were sort of so far apart, but she was the one everybody wanted to see. But interesting that people have softened towards Charles despite thinking that as soon as the Queen was dead that would be it and they could move on. I think there was a general feeling across a lot of, I don't know, people who work in, you know, royal coverage and then there was a lot of a feeling across sort of the Commonwealth and Commonwealth experts that there would be this sort of natural movement across Commonwealth realms that when the Elizabethan era ended, it would be a moment for a lot of them to take a step to look at their futures

and their relationship with the monarchy. But it hasn't really happened across a lot of realms in the way that I think a lot of people thought it would. And Australia is a perfect example of that. You know, I think there are, you know, there are several Caribbean realms that have been talking about it for a long time, still not done anything about it. So it's interesting. And actually, I was talking to someone on my flight on the way from Perth to Sydney on this very issue, and just said to them, I do find it really interesting and intriguing that when we travel to these big realms, you know, the big sort of countries like Canada and Australia and New Zealand, big developed nations, why

they retain our monarch as their head of state. And one of the people I was talking to on my flight said, well I think Australians just don't really like change. We're quite a conservative nation and we just, you know know and I think the 99 referendum I think put it to bed for a lot of people. Well I think the part of the problem is what's the alternative you know do you have a kind of president Julia Gillard for example who becomes that kind of figurehead or that head of state do you then you have to elect somebody in and because voting is compulsory here. That's what they couldn't decide on they couldn't agree on that. Yeah exactly so it's sort of the kind, it feels like a kind of stay on mate,

better the devil you know sort of situation that hasn't stopped the Australian Republic movement from using this tour as a kind of a benchmark to start talking about, reframing the conversation. They dubbed it the farewell tour, haven't they? The farewell tour, they've got some merch, they've got like all good tours. So if you wanted to, you could buy yourself a t-shirt. Or a tea towel. I've seen it online. Farewell to the monarchy tour.

Yeah. Spoiler alert for your Christmas present. That's heavily loaded. But they've got their merch, they've got their their meetings. But then but then the Australian monarchist league handing out 15,000 flags to people. So they're sort of going head to head in the republic. And it's all sort of, you know, we're talking about this because it's an interesting thing to talk about, but it doesn't feel, none of the debate over that feels heated when we're here. It doesn't feel that it has any urgency or impact,

partly because the government itself, the Republic government has put it to bed. It has. There was an interesting piece in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday with a headline that said, Australians aren't focused on a public, the British press are.

And I thought that was quite interesting that actually a lot of the coverage here Thinks that we make more of it than people in Australia do on the ground who knows maybe those pesky British journalists Maybe coming over here. Maybe we do It's a complicated relationship So we're gonna see them out and about from Sunday onwards and it's quite a packed schedule, isn't it? We have we're in Sydney. then we go to Canberra, then we come back to Sydney before we go on to Samoa for the Common Peas of Government meeting and I think you'll hear from us hopefully again from Samoa. But it's a busy trip, it's sort of reflective of their shared interests, there's some formal official

stuff with you know veterans, with the memorial there is some committed interest literacy library domestic violence it's got a little bit of everything it's are there any moments that are a little bit less for my suppose maybe the big community barbecue in the sheepdog trials the barbie the barbie uh paramata that we're going to see late early next week i think that's going to be a big kind of oie moment, isn't it? That kind of traditional moment. But the panel said that there's gonna be a mix of celebrating the best of Australia

and some of the elements of the King and Queen's work. So like you say. And there may be quite a poignant moment, right, when the King is gonna meet two leading Australian pioneers in cancer research and health treatment to professors who do a lot of work around melanoma and one of them has got a brain tumour himself, an incurable brain tumour, and the king is going to meet him and you know there's speculation that he may talk about his

own illness. That cancer theme was there even from the beginning wasn't it that when they came down the steps yesterday of the plane, Camilla was presented with a posy by a 12 year old called Kai from Adelaide, who's himself a cancer survivor and his sister was alongside him, Charlotte, and she has actually helped provide some of her own kind of bone marrow to help save her brother, which was a kind of, it was a touching moment. And I think from the start, that idea, the theme that, you know, he has cancer, he can communicate with people who have cancer. That will be an additional theme to the tour, I think. There are other international royal stories around this week other than the King and Queen

in Sydney. There has been a lot of interest and intrigue in reports that Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have bought property in Portugal. Mm-hmm. Discuss. Well, Zara and Mike Tindall like going there. Princess Eugenie bought a place there. If you buy a place in Portugal, there's still a kind of golden visa deal where you can get, you know, residency and better rights to move around within the Schengen

Zone in Europe. Do we really see Harry and Megan hanging out for long periods of time in Portugal? Because I don't. Well, there is good surfing in Portugal. And as we've seen this week, Harry is quite good at surfing, because there was a video that was released of him surfing in California on a kind of... How many takes do you reckon that took before he authorized that one to go out? It was pretty good though. Yeah, I just think the Portugal thing is sort of... it seemed like a slight curveball because...

Be interesting if it's a good story if true. I mean there's lots of reasons to buy property in Portugal, for sure. I just can't quite imagine a world in which Harry and Meghan spend any proper periods of time living. I can imagine her wanting to, because if you remember that she had the TIG and she loved kind of the European travel, she went to Malta to track down kind of family heritage

that she had there, a connection to Malta. How's the security in Portugal? Oh wow, maybe they throw in state security. I think that's unlikely. Anyway, it was very intriguing. It was very intriguing. I'd like to see what they've bought, if they have bought a property there. Maybe we should go to Portugal, Kate. I think probably just off the back of this. I think we've got a few days in between Australia, Samoa and then Cape Town. South Africa with William. On to William actually. Wills Week. Wills

Week. Wills Week copyright trademark. The Royals. Wills Week. He's been out and about hasn't he? He has. He has. We've seen him this week. He's been in London. Centrepoint Awards? Centrepoint Awards, which were good with his cousins. Kitty Spencer. Yeah. Amelia Spencer. There were some lovely stories of young people who have helped other people in their communities.

And that's what those awards are for, to kind of recognise young people who've made a difference in their communities. And he gave what those awards are for to kind of recognise young people who've made a difference in their communities. And he gave a speech there and talked about there's a lot of sort of messaging from William at the moment around what he's trying to do with his homelessness. It's part of his Homewards project that we've been talking about. Systemic change of trying to not manage homelessness but prevent it. Yeah. So we had Will's week starting at the Centrepoint Awards

and then where else were we seeing him? Then he went to an NFL engagement in London. So this is part of a charity through American football, which helps young people. He was wearing very bright white trainers and he looked like he'd been practicing his throws. He looked like they were box fresh white trainers weren't they? If you looked at them directly you'd blind yourself with them.

They were like sunglasses time. That's what mine looked like when they came out of the washing machine. That's totally throwing me now. Don't you wash your trainers? Yeah I do but I don't have bright white ones. I do. Okay, wear them next time. Maybe I'll wear them on my next rotor with William.

Yeah, you might get wet with my shoes. And everyone said, oh, he's jolly good at throwing, but he did seem to be quite sort of getting stuck in and throwing balls around and things like that. So it was quite a nice kind of old fashioned engagement, I think. Getting stuck in into some sport. Yeah. Probably won't see any of old-fashioned engagement, I think. Getting stuck in. Yeah. Into some sport. Yeah.

Probably won't see any of that on this trip, will we? Well, I think while the King's here doing his Aussie trip, it would probably not be very diplomatic for William to be doing anything too showy to detract from it. So looking ahead, we're next gonna be in Samoa. Commonwealth heads of government first, Chogham. The king has been to as king and head of the Commonwealth. There'll be a lot to look forward to there.

It'll be good. Really intrigued to see that country. But first we've got to get this tour out of the way. I think it hasn't even really started yet, has it? I mean, it's gonna start properly tomorrow with the church. Then we're gonna go to Canberra for a full-on day there. Then we're back to Sydney for a full-on day in Sydney, which is going to be the kind of, you know, the barbecues and the, you know, we're going to have speeches by the King along the way. And I think those will be

some of the most interesting parts of the tour, what he's got to say about the connection to Australia. Yes, I think it'll be a lot of sort of reinforcing the ties that bind. That's the phrase, isn't it? That the palace always like to talk about with countries that we have interesting relationships with the ties that bind. I think, like we said, there'll be plenty of his mother reminding Australians that they are Elizabethans. And I think there'll be a very interesting speech at Chogham. We'll probably talk about that a lot more when you next hear from us. Mm. But they're Victorians as well, aren't they? I mean, you know, Queen Victoria looms large as well in this country. The makeup of the country, a lot of it is

intrinsically tied to the crown. So it'll be interesting to see how Australians navigate their kind of journey away from that in the coming years. Yes. Well, if I was a betting woman, I'd say that the monarchy is still going to be around here for a while yet, don't you think? Yeah, for a while yet. Place your bets. At least while we're here for the next few days. Definitely while we're still here. And I don't think we're gonna create a

revolutionary republic in four days Kate. Even with your one-hour tea towel. That you bought me for Christmas. Alright on that point Michelle, thanks for listening to us and joining us in Australia. It's nice to bring you with us and Nice to see you down under. Lovely to see you down under. We'll talk again soon. See you in Zarmour. Yeah. Bye for now