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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
National
Ross Hunter

'No thanks': Ex-Aussie footballer rejects invite to meet King Charles

A FORMER professional footballer and human rights campaigner in Australia has rejected an invite to meet King Charles.

Craig Foster earned 29 caps for the Socceroos throughout his career before becoming a human rights and refugee ambassador for Amnesty International following his retirement.

On Friday, Foster posted a letter he had received from New South Wales premier and Australian Labor Party MP Chris Minns and his wife Anna on social media.

The letter invited Foster to a community BBQ “in the presence of His Majesty King Charles III and Her Majesty Queen Camilla”.

But Foster said he would not be attending such an event until Australia had its own elected head of state.

“Thanks Anna and @ChrisMinnsMP,” he said.

“But, no thanks.

“I look forward to being ‘in the presence of’ our first Aussie Head of State.

“When we put our big pants on, as a country.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla are due to embark upon an “autumn tour” of Australia and Samoa between October 18 and October 26.

The anti-monarchy campaign group Republic are set to hold demonstrations in Sydney and Canberra during King Charles’s visit.

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