During His Royal Tour in Australia, King Charles Reveals One Way He Won't Be Following in Prince Harry's Footsteps
"If I was a younger man."
King Charles has been winning over fans (although maybe not some government leaders) during his trip to Australia this week, but on Sunday, Oct. 20, he revealed one thing that isn't on his royal itinerary Down Under.
While Prince Harry shocked Instagram users with his impressive surfing skills last week, don't expect his dad to follow suit. The Duke of Sussex hit the waves at the Kelly Slater Surf Ranch in California—as shared in a video by surfing legend Raimana Van Bastolaer on Instagram—and once upon a time, The King might have followed suit.
According to Hello!, a Melbourne man asked Charles “if he would be going to go surfing or swimming on Manly Beach" during his visit to Australia while chatting with The King outside a Sydney church. However, the 75-year-old monarch replied, “if I was a younger man."
During his trip, King Charles also admitted that it was “slightly worrying” to realize his first visit to Australia had been in 1966, when the then-17-year-old Prince Charles studied abroad at Timbertop, a remote campus of Geelong Grammar School in Victoria, Australia.
He seemed to be in a nostalgic mood during the trip, presenting an hourglass speech timer to Parliament “in the spirit of marking the passage of time," per People.
“With the sands of time encouraging brevity, it just remains for me to say what a great joy it is to come to Australia for the first time as sovereign, and to renew a love of this country and its people which I have cherished for so long,” the monarch said.
Despite republican sentiments from many Australian leaders, King Charles and Queen Camilla—who will travel to Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting after departing Australia—have attracted huge crowds of flag-waving Australians eager to get a look at the King and Queen.
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And although it sounds like surfing isn't on the schedule, perhaps we'll see Charles take his newly learned Samoan dance moves for a test drive.
Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.
Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.
Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.