On Friday, Oct. 18, King Charles and Queen Camilla kicked off their first trip to Australia since taking the throne in 2023, but four decades ago, Charles experienced a much different tour with his then-wife, Princess Diana.
In March 1983, the then-Prince and Princess of Wales embarked on their first major overseas tour. Diana, who was only 21 and had been married for less than two years, was still new to royal life. Her decision to bring 9-month-old Prince William along for the trip to Australia drew criticism since in the past, royals like Queen Elizabeth left their children behind in England for months at a time.
The pressure of being "on" 24-7 for so many weeks was a daunting prospect, and Diana didn't try to hide it. "She seemed uneasy, even glum, and looked at the tarmac with downcast eyes throughout much of the brief airport picture session," The Age reported when the couple first touched down in Australia.
"Whatever the reason, Princess Diana had to work mightily to produce for the photographers the smile of a proud and happy young mother," the media outlet continued.
The trip—as royal biographer Andrew Morton wrote in the New York Post—was a "terrifying baptism of fire" for the new princess. However, she began to find her feet and quickly charmed the Australian people, which was precisely the reason the prince and princess were asked to travel there in the first place.
Republican sentiment, which is a familiar topic as Charles and Camilla take on their 2024 tour, was growing, and the Royal Family was counting on the glamorous and popular couple to win over Australians and help keep the country as part of the constitutional monarchy.
As anyone who watched The Crown knows, Charles—who was nearly 13 years older than his wife—grew increasingly frustrated as the trip progressed. Princess Diana's popularity soared, with crowds chanting her name and reaching out to touch her. The prince found himself relegated to the sidelines.
Their diverging approaches to royal duties became apparent. While Charles gave formal speeches, Diana connected with people through casual conversation and shy smiles.
"The people of this most sophisticated of Australian cities went wild for the delicate 21-year-old English rose and mobbed her from one side of town to the other," the Newcastle Evening Chronicle reported of Diana's popularity in Sydney (via the Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
Diana fever took over, and Prince Charles didn't take it well. "Victor Chapman, the press secretary on the tour, got used to late-night phone calls from Charles complaining about the scant coverage of himself in the press compared to the hagiographic acres accorded of his wife," Tina Brown wrote in The Diana Chronicles.
But while the Aussies loved her, Morton wrote that the tour was "utterly traumatic" for the princess. "He took it out me," Diana told the royal biographer of her husband. "He was jealous; I understood the jealousy but I couldn't explain that I didn't ask for it."
Morton, who was a trusted confidant of the princess, wrote that she "cried her eyes out, unable to handle the constant attention" from the Australian public.
Despite the stress, the tour was considered a resounding success, with Brown writing in The Diana Chronicles, "By the end of Charles and Diana's tour a poll in Australia found that monarchists outnumbered republicans two to one, and that was the point, wasn't it?"
Whether Charles and Camilla's 2024 trip has the same result seems unlikely. Even though this is the first time a British king has toured Australia (Queen Elizabeth II was the first British monarch to visit), the premiers of all six Australian states have turned down invitations to attend a reception for the royals amongst growing republican sentiment.
