Monarchists in Australia have accused state premiers of insluting King Charles and Queen Camilla after they declined to attend a welcome reception for the pair ahead of their tour of the country.
Charles, 75, who has visited Australia 16 times, has put his cancer treatment on hold to ensure the six-day trip can go ahead, and alongside the Queen, will attend a range of events aimed at fostering relationships between communities.
The visit includes a reception in Canberra later this week, but the six state premiers — of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania — have said they are unable to attend.
Bev McArthur of the Australian Monarchist League said the premiers actions were insulting.
They should just take off their republican hats, make the short trip to Canberra, say hi and thank you for coming to Australia, she added.
Victorias premier Jacinta Allan last week said she could not attend because she had a cabinet meeting. Her deputy, Ben Carroll, also refused the invitation, meaning Ms Allans parliamentary secretary Nick Staikos will represent the state.
Queensland premier Steven Miles said he could not attend because he was currently working on his election campaign, while Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff said he was on a US trade mission.
South Australian premier Peter Malinauskas and New South Wales premier Chris Minns also said they were attending a cabinet meeting. And a spokesperson for Western Australias premier Roger Cook said he had other commitments.
Bev McArthur told the BBC: The failure of state premiers to attend the reception in Canberra is completely indefensible and she accused them of gesture-led politics.
She told the newspaper she remains unconvinced by the excuses from the regional heads of government, which included having cabinet meetings and other commitments, and told the BBC it was petty and inhospitable.
Buckingham Palace has not commented on the row.
King Charles and Queen Camilla pictured back in 2015 during their last tour of New Zealand and Australia
Prince Charles (pictured) on his Australia and New Zealand trip in 1994
Royal biographer Tom Bower told MailOnline today: The republicans do their cause no good by seeking to embarrass a sick man who is doing his duty by travelling across the world at the request of the Australian government.
They expose themselves as petty and, worse, inhumane in not acknowledging the Kings personal sacrifice to do his duty.
A host of Australias top politicians have refused to meet Charles in Australias capital next week, where British campaign group Republic is even planning a protest with CEO Graham Smith flying in from the UK.
Other protests are also planned in Sydney for when Charles and Camilla are in the city.
Royal commentator Phil Dampier told MailOnline today it is rude and disrespectful of the state premiers to turn down the King.
Ironically all the polls are still showing a majority of Australians would vote to keep Charles as head of state if there was a referendum tomorrow, he said.
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is a republican, but he has wisely put the issue on the back burner as he knows he could easily lose.
Bearing in mind his age and the fact he is battling cancer, it seems churlish of these Governors not to accept an invitation to meet the King and Queen.
Charles and Camilla are due to arrive in Australia on Friday.
They will be heading to Sydney and Canberra, where protests are planned in a nation recently branded the most woke country in the world.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla pose for their official Australian visit portrait. Charles, 75, was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer earlier this year following prostate surgery - but has asked to pause treatment so he can head Down Under this week
King Charles and Queen Camilla pictured walking on Broadbeach on the Gold Coast, Australia, in 2018
Prince Charles enjoys swimming in the sea at Bondi Beach during his tour of Australia in 1981
Neither Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan (pictured left) or her deputy Ben Carroll (right) will attend the Canberra welcome for the King
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) and Queensland premier Steven Miles (right) today. Miles has said he will be busy campaigning for re-election when the King visits
NSW premier Chris Minns (left) said he cannot attend the Canberra welcoming also because of a cabinet meeting. South Australia premier Peter Malinauskas (right) also has a regional cabinet meeting
Tasmanian premier Jeremy Rockliff (left) is on a US trade mission. West Australian premier Roger Cook (right) would only say he has other commitments
It also comes as a new poll in Australia showed support for the monarchy remains high as the King set to embark on an historic tour of the country on Friday.
A Daily Telegraph in Sydney poll found one in four have a more favourable view of King Charles than they did before he was crowned. And just one in three thought Australia should become a republic –down on the 39.4 per cent who voted that way at the countrys referendum in 1999.
Tom Bower told MailOnline today that Charles visit will be a great success, and the majority of Australians are behind him, as shown by the weekends poll.
He said: Charles knows that the Australian republicans traditional loud campaign to end the monarchy has always been defeated by the Australian electors.
The King knows that the Queen and the Royal Family have always been warmly supported in Australia and have politely acknowledged the minority republicans weakness is that the alternative is considered to be worse.
The King will be received with genuine support not least because he has dug deep roots since his boyhood.
Phil Dampier has slammed those trying to hijack the trip for their own political ends.
He said: The King and his late mother have always made it clear that its up to Australians to decide their form of Government and whether to ditch the monarchy, something they would accept gracefully if it happened.
So for these State Governors to snub him is rude and disrespectful.
He has shown them respect but they are not showing it back, presumably for their own political gain.
Im sure Charles and Camilla will receive a warm welcome, although there will be a tiny number of anti-monarchy protestors shouting in the background.
The statue of Captain Cook in St Kilda cut down in January by anti-Australia Day protesters
A Queen Victoria monument in Melbourne was also vandalised with red paint
Video footage circulating on social media showed the vandals cutting the head from the statue of George V in Melbourne in June
The late Queen is being removed from Australias $5 banknote, but wont be replaced with a portrait of King Charles III
The reception wont be on the scale of when Prince Charles and his new wife Diana first toured there in the 1980s of course, and he and Camilla are a couple in their seventies.
But they represent a system which many people believe works for them, and lets not forget how many Aussies still have ties to the old country.
Bearing in mind his age and the fact he is battling cancer, it seems churlish of these Governors not to accept an invitation to meet the King and Queen.
At the very least they could express their views personally and hear from their head of state.
Perhaps they fear they will be charmed by them and might change their minds.
The row over Charles visit came after a number of attacks on British statues in 2024.
This is even though the King has been clear he will not stand in the way if Australia wishes to replace him as the countrys head of state.
Charles is King of Australia and the countrys head of state. (Pictured: Prince Charles and Queen Camilla greeted by school children)
In June a statue of King George V was decapitated in Melbourne by vandals from the The Colony Must Fall movement who dedicated the attack to King Charles.
And in January attacks on statues of Captain Cook and Queen Victoria before Australia Day sparked more outrage.
The King will be buoyed by polls in Australia which show support for the monarchy remains high as hes set to embark on an historic tour of the country on Friday.
The Mail understands that His Majesty will continue with his ongoing cancer treatment right up until he flies but that his doctors are happy for it to be briefly stopped while he is away.
The King will then pick up with his treatment cycle as soon as he returns to the UK.
Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of the disease in February following prostate surgery and has been receiving weekly treatment ever since.
However the news that the King intends to squeeze in a 30,000 mile, 11-day door-to-door trip in-between treatments is both good news in terms of his health - and also emphasises the commitment to duty he has shown since he was first diagnosed.