To Australia’s Parliament House, where King Charles gave his landmark address today. But it wasn’t all plain sailing for the British monarch who, just before he came to the end of his keynote speech, was rather rudely interrupted by a protestor. The heckler — an indigenous senator — began to approach the stage, shouting at His Majesty: ‘You are not my King!’
Going on, senator Lidia Thorpe – dressed in a rather interesting coat made of, um, possums – raged at the monarch:
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… You are not our king, you are not sovereign… You destroyed our land.
Good heavens. Thorpe was led away from the stage by security while the King and Queen Camilla watched on, alongside Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, without reaction. Escorted out of the chamber, Thorpe concluded her tirade with a cry of: ‘F*** the colony!’ Charming…
The senator’s outburst comes as the monarchs make their way across Australia as part of a five day tour of the country. In the days leading up to the King’s visit, the Daily Mail revealed some rather curious communications between Buckingham Palace and the Australian Republic Movement. In these, the palace stated that ‘whether Australia becomes a republic’ is a ‘matter for the Australian public to decide’. How interesting. It’s certainly a more amicable way of approaching the subject than, er, Thorpe’s intervention…
Watch the clip here:
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