Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe’s loud protest of King Charles and Queen Camilla has become a defining moment. Senator Thorpe, an Aboriginal Australian independent politician, protested pledging an oath to then-Queen Elizabeth II in 2022, and Thorpe has been a long-time vocal advocate for Aboriginal rights. She didn’t just wake up on Monday and decide to protest Charles and Camilla. Her protest, in Australian Parliament, was Thorpe speaking the truth across the board. I’ve seen a lot of Australians supporting her online, but those supporters are being met with a highly coordinated and aggressive monarchist pushback. I’m not saying Buckingham Palace released a bot farm, but there’s a lot happening all at once, and the knives are out for Thorpe. It’s fascinating to watch the British media grapple with how to discuss Thorpe and her protest too. From Becky English’s “analysis” at the Daily Mail (English is traveling with Charles and Camilla):
Charles had just sat down after offering his most sincerest of thanks for the warmth of the welcome he has received in the country which now calls him King. Even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – a life-long republican who set up a now defunct ministry to bring about separation from Crown – had taken to the stage to describe attending his coronation as ‘one of the honours of my life’.
Suddenly the cordial bonhomie of the Great Hall at Australian Parliament House was riven with the profanities of infamous indigenous rights campaigner and senator, Lidia Thorpe, live on television. Security officials acted quickly to remove her within just feet of the media, but the shock was palpable as guests struggled at first to work out what on earth was happening. However as word quickly spread, members of the public and Australian colleagues began to roll their eyes.
‘I know exactly who that is without even having to look at the footage,’ sighed one journalist resignedly to me, before they peered at the video on my phone. Others said they would have ‘put money on her pulling such a stunt’.
Interestingly, the King was, I am told, ‘unruffled’ by the incident and is determined not to allow it to overshadow the ‘wonderful’ welcome he has received. Several hours later, he still hadn’t even mentioned it, apparently. Others are, however, more far more angry on his behalf.
Senator Babet wrote on X in the strongest of terms, ‘condemning’ Thorpe’s actions. ‘She hurled abuse at our King. To show such utter disrespect to King Charles, who has travelled to Australia despite ongoing cancer treatment is disgusting,’ he said, adding that it was she who owed the King and the Australian people an apology, not the other way around.
Interestingly, many Australians I have met in recent days feel it is the British who are more obsessed with the issue of independence than they are. One lovely man even grabbed me outside the New South Wales legislature on Sunday and begged me not to ‘write them off’. He insisted that the die-hard republicans were actually in a minority compared to the monarchists, while many other Australians are actually indifferent either way: they really do have more things to worry about.
This is funny and sad. Years ago, I realized that these “royal foreign tours” were not actually about diplomacy or showing respect to other cultures or highlighting Commonwealth ties or what have you. Royal tours are almost entirely about the royals performing for their domestic audience. It’s not that Charles and Camilla give a sh-t about what Australians really think about them, nor do they give a sh-t about Australia in general. They only care about performing skits abroad, and having those skits translated through the British media to their domestic British audience. Charles wants people – British people – to think that he was unruffled by a rude, unpleasant woman who has no support (despite the fact that Thorpe is an elected official and Charles is not).
Thorpe isn’t shutting up either. She’s extremely brave, not just for her protest, but for her refusal to back down as the Australian and British establishments line up against her.
I sat down with ABC Radio National to remind this country to get used to Truth-Telling because I’m not going anywhere. pic.twitter.com/nYvNF0FBGg
— Senator Lidia Thorpe (@SenatorThorpe) October 22, 2024
“The King is not our sovereign, the King lives in your country, he’s from your country, he can’t be our King.” @KayBurley asks Independent Senator @SenatorThorpe about heckling the King in Australia’s parliament. https://t.co/u4JthNReGu
Sky 501 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/SWvQxH49Xz
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 21, 2024
Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe yells at King Charles after he finished giving a speech at the Australian Parliament:
“You committed genocide against our people, give us our land back! Give us what you stole from us! You are not our King!”
— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 21, 2024
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.