By Lewis Jackson
CANBERRA (Reuters) -Among the thousand plus well-wishers gathered to greet King Charles and Queen Camilla at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on Monday was Hephner, a nine-year old alpaca in a suit with a crown perched atop his fluffy white head.
Hephner, named in honour of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, waited for hours alongside owner Robert Fletcher and long lines of others outside the memorial for the chance to greet the royal couple on their one-day tour of the capital.
“He has many outfits and this is one we’ve saved specifically for today,” said Fletcher. “One king meets another king.”
Hephner’s patience paid off. On a thirty-minute walk to greet the often-cheering crowds, Charles stopped to pat the alpaca, pulling back with a laugh when Hephner snorted in his face.
Charles’ 16th official visit to Australia, where he attended school for six months as a teenager in 1966, is also his first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer in February.
The couple landed in Sydney on Friday and spent the weekend in the harbour city before flying to capital Canberra on Monday morning. At their visit to the war memorial they also laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier.
The royal couple were then driven across town to parliament where they were greeted by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and a 21-gun salute.
Albanese and other senior parliamentarians hosted a reception in the Great Hall of parliament where Charles gave a brief speech about his time in Australia as a teenager and the threat of climate change.
Moments after he finished, independent senator Lydia Thorpe strode up the aisle shouting that she did not accept his sovereignty. Security stopped her approaching the king and later escorted her out of the chamber.
Thorpe had been one of roughly 20 people protesting the king’s visit outside the war memorial earlier in the day.
The royal couple continue their visit to Australia in Sydney on Tuesday, before heading to Samoa for a meeting of countries in the British Commonwealth.
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson in Canberra, writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Sandra Maler and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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