King Charles and Queen Camillas chaotic Australia trip is a sign of troubles to come

The sausage flipped by King Charles at a Sydney barbecue probably had less of a grilling than the man himself on his recent Australian tour.  It’s been a tricky trip for the ailing monarch suffering with cancer caught in a colonial maelstrom — his first visit as head of state to a nation split over remaining a sovereign state or becoming a republic.  Accusations of aboriginal genocide and land theft rumbled throughout the six-day visit to a country colonized by the British in 1788.Indigenous Australian MP Lidia Thorpe’s outburst after the king’s speech at Parliament House in Canberra grabbed the headlines. “F–k the colony,” she thundered at the weary 75-year-old, who had just paid tribute to the “timeless wisdom of the traditional owners of land.” Thorpe’s heavy-handed protest diluted her message and demeaned her office. Add in the snubbing from several senior Australian politicians, and the king, who had schlepped across the globe with two full-time doctors and a supply of his own blood, deserved better. You had to feel some sympathy for Charles.

A life spent in waiting for a role increasingly mired in controversy and critique and now expected to be an apologist for centuries-old oppression he played no part in. He could be forgiven for kicking back with a martini in his beloved rose garden at Highgrove, but duty calls.As the late Queen Elizabeth II famously said: “I have to be seen to be believed” — in short — get out there and meet the people.

It’s a reminder that for all the mystique of monarchy, its raison d’être is rooted in engaging with its subjects.Trouble is the parade now comes with protest, fans often drowned out by its foes. This storm has been brewing for a while.

The prince and princess of Wales’ ill-fated 2022 tour of the Caribbean was equally problematic.Aimed at strengthening the Commonwealth, the event was overshadowed by calls for slavery reparation against the backdrop of the global Black Lives M...