King Charles III Has a Big Problem in Australia

King Charles III is under pressure to visit Australia—which counts him as its king—after trips to Germany, France and Romania.

After more than a year as king, Charles is yet to visit any of the 14 countries outside Britain that recognise him as monarch, leading to growing criticism in Australian society.

Instead, Charles' major overseas tours have targeted Britain's key allies in Europe, France and Germany, while he also made a more-casual visit to Romania.

Last week, the king earned a standing ovation in the French Senate, but that appears to have done little to reassure his subjects in the southern hemisphere.

The pressure on the king and Queen Camilla to take a trip to Australia comes after polling by Research Co. earlier this year found that six countries, including Australia, would vote to remove Charles as head of state if a referendum were called.

Allison Langdon, presenter of A Current Affair, which network Channel 9 boasts is "Australia's No. 1 daily current affairs program," recently did a segment suggesting the country was being snubbed.

On September 23, Langdon said: "Just six months ago, King Charles III gave a very passionate speech about how much the Commonwealth of Nations means to him.

"But, this week, the king's been getting wined and dined in spectacular fashion in France, which has many Australians wondering, 'Are we being royally snubbed?'" added Langdon.

Isaac Jeffrey, chief executive of Australia Republic Movement, said in a statement on Monday: "King Charles III is King of Australia by birthright and he has held that lofty position for over a year now, yet our King hasn't made the trip to visit us.

"In fact, he hasn't been to any of the Commonwealth nations which still call him their King and Head of State. He's visited Germany, Romania and, within the last few days, he sipped champagne in France, but he hasn't found time for us," Jeffrey added.

"The monarchy takes us for granted. They believe we are their loyal subjects by birth right and that we should all take a knee and swear allegiance, but why should we?

"Why should we just blindly accept that they are our head of state when loyalty is expected but not given?" he said.

Jeffrey added that Charles, who turns 75 in November, had "only visited Australia 16 times" and "only managed around one visit every five years," including some lasting a few days, such as his most-recent tour in 2018.

"His son, Prince William, our future King, has only visited us four times—the last almost a decade ago," Jeffrey said.

"Yet without change, he will one day be king of Australia and our head of state—the person who is supposed to be the symbol and embodiment of who we are as a people. How can you possibly hope to represent us and understand us, if you've only visited four times?"

Monarchists and republicans alike in Britain have long anticipated that succession from Queen Elizabeth II to her eldest son might trigger moves to remove the British monarch as head of state.

And it was days before some Caribbean nations began signaling a desire to hold referenda on the prospect, with Antigua and Barbuda announcing a three-year timeline while the royals were still in mourning and before Elizabeth's funeral.

Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne told U.K. channel ITV at the time: "This is a matter that has to be taken to a referendum for the people to decide.

"It does not represent any form of disrespect to the monarch. This is not an act of hostility, or any difference between Antigua and Barbuda and the monarchy," Browne said.

"It is a final step to complete the circle of independence to become a truly sovereign nation," he added.

Surveys conducted in February and March by pollster Lord Ashcroft, a former deputy chairman of Britain's Conservative Party, found that Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, Jamaica, the Solomon Islands, and Antigua and Barbuda would all choose a democratically elected head of state if given the option.

Among Australians, 42 per cent wanted a republic, while 35 per cent wanted to keep the monarchy.

The absence of a royal visit to the countries around the world that count Charles as king, known as Commonwealth Realms, has also been picked up by commentators in Britain.

Robert Jobson, author of Our King, this month told Newsweek: "I would like to have seen him sure up the Commonwealth, sure up the realms. Had he gone to Australia or New Zealand or Canada, I would have liked to see that in the first instance, as opposed to Germany and now France."

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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