British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has praised King Charles III, saying he was doing a “fantastic job”, after the monarch was heckled by independent senator Lidia Thorpe on Monday.
Senator Thorpe’s protest, which involved her shouting at the royal, who had just delivered a speech at an event in Canberra, made global headlines.
The Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman yelled “you are not our king” and “this is not your land” at the king before striding towards the stage in The Great Hall at Parliament House and continuing: “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.
“Give us a treaty, we want a treaty.”
As she was removed by officials, the senator shouted: “F*** the colony.”
Independent senator Lidia Thorpe interrupted a royal reception at Parliament House, yelling at King Charles. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
Sir Keir was asked about the incident in London on Monday, and said: “I think the king is doing a fantastic job, an incredible ambassador not just for our country, but across the Commonwealth.
“I think he’s doing a fantastic job, and we should remember in the context of health, that he is out there doing his public service notwithstanding, you know, the health challenges he himself has had — so I think he’s doing a great job.”
Earlier this year, Buckingham Palace revealed the king had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.
The monarch’s trip to Australia was his first since the diagnosis.
While his official prognosis has not been made public, King Charles’s doctors have allowed him to return to some public-facing duties.
His treatment has been paused while he is abroad.
Sir Keir Starmer became British prime minister after winning an election earlier this year. (Reuters: Phil Noble)
Sir Keir will join the king in Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) this week.
King Charles and Queen Camilla did not react to Senator Thorpe’s protest.
Moments earlier, the king had been speaking about the impact Indigenous Australians had had on him, on his multiple visits to the country.
“In my many visits to Australia, I have witnessed the courage and hope that have guided the nation’s long and sometimes difficult journey towards reconciliation,” the king said in his speech.
“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations peoples have done me the great honour of sharing so generously their stories and cultures.
“I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom.”