King Charles III heckled on Australia visit by lawmaker accusing him of complicity in Indigenous genocide
Britain's King Charles III is paying an official royal visit to Australia, his first big trip since he started undergoing cancer treatment. But while the official reception for the reigning U.K. monarch — the first to visit Australia in more than a decade — has been cordial, it was not all glad-handing and smiles on Monday.
Even before he arrived, Charles' five-day visit to the former British colony had reignited a fierce debate about why any Briton should inherit the right to be the official head of state of the country on the other side of the globe. On Monday, Charles was loudly and publicly heckled by an Australian lawmaker who accused him of complicity in a colonial era genocide of Australia's Indigenous people.
After he delivered a speech to Australian lawmakers at Parliament House in Canberra, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, a vocal advocate for Indigenous rights, approached the king and shouted: "This is not your country."
"You committed genocide against our people. Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us — our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people," Thorpe yelled at Charles and Queen Camilla as they sat on a stage next to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
"You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty. We want a treaty in this country. You are a genocidalist," shouted Thorpe. "This is not your land. You are not my king. You are not our king," she shouted as security personnel ushered her out. "F*** the colony!"
After invading Australia in the late 18th century, British colonists massacred thousands of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, according to research by the University of Newcastle in Australia.
For decades, Australia's Indigenous communities have called for treaties between the government and the country's First Nations people, similar to those signed in New Zealand, Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere.
While many in Australia have welcomed Charles' visit, which is only the second ever by a reigning British monarch, others have called for it to be the last.
The Australian Republic Movement, a campaign group that advocates for an Australian to replace the British monarch as the country's official head of state, has mocked the royal visit as something akin to an ageing music group's final tour.
The group launched a campaign last week calling on Australians to, "Wave Goodbye to Royal Reign with Monarchy: The Farewell Oz Tour!"
"We say to Charles and Camilla: 'Welcome, we hope you're enjoying our country and good health and good spirits.' But we also look forward to this being the final tour of a sitting Australian monarch," ARM co-chair Esther Anatolitis told The Associated Press.
A source close to the king and queen told CBS News on Monday that they were, "deeply touched by the warm reception they have received since touching down in Australia," and that while Charles "understands there is always a debate to be had around the role of the monarch, he firmly believes it is a matter for the Australian people to decide."
The protest in the parliamentary chamber wasn't the only affront to King Charles on Monday.
Earlier in the day, after touching down in Canberra, the king and queen laid a wreath at the Australian War Memorial and greeted some of the thousands who had gathered to see them.
As Charles walked along the line of people standing behind a barricade, shaking hands and greeting well-wishers, he found himself face to face with a woolly alpaca named Hephner, who had been dressed in a crown.
The animal's owner Robert Fletcher, likely a fan of Charles, said the king "gave Hephner a pat on the head, and then he sneezed on the king."
Fletcher even told The Guardian newspaper that the nine-year-old mammal was a monarchist, and that it had been a great opportunity to "dress him up as royalty and bring him today."
