Staunch republican Peter FitzSimons has taken a stab at the monarchy by comparing photos of crowds during Princess Diana’s visit to Australia and the King and Queen’s most recent trip Down Under.
Charles and Camilla left Australia on Wednesday morning after five days of official meetings in Sydney and Canberra.
About 10,000 people gathered to see the King and Queen at the Sydney Opera House on Tuesday afternoon, hoping to shake hands and have a brief conversation with Their Majesties.
Just hours after their meet and greet, FitzSimons, the former chairman of the Australian Republican Movement, shared a photo of the huge crowd waiting for then-Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s visit to the Opera House in 1983 – almost four decades ago – next to an image of those who want to see Charles and Camilla on Tuesday.
Diana and Charles’ trip to Australia in 1983 caused a mania: some 400,000 people turned out to see the royal couple in Brisbane. News photographer Jayne Fincher said she was “shocked” by the scale of the crowds on Sydney Harbor for Princess Di, as a huge crowd gathered on the steps of the Opera House.
By comparison, the crowd appeared significantly smaller for the king and queen this week — at least in the photo FitzSimons shared — while the Opera House steps were completely empty.
“As they say in the classics, it’s like a cast of dozens waiting for their king,” Fitzsimons said.
Staunch republican Peter FitzSimons has launched an attempt to attack the monarchy by comparing photos of crowds during Princess Diana’s visit to Australia in 1983 and the King and Queen’s most recent trip Down Under.
Aussies were banned from entering the Opera House steps during this year’s royal visit
An Australian responded to FitzSimsons: ‘I remember that tour, when Diana came, the whole country went crazy. Everywhere she went there was a hustle and bustle.
‘They weren’t there to see Charles. The public transport was chokkas, I was living in Sydney at the time, it was absolutely massive, nothing compared to this week’s visit.’
However, many pointed out that security measures on Tuesday prevented royals fans from standing on the steps as they did with Princess Diana, making it an unfair comparison.
And no historical report gives an exact estimate of how many Australians gathered at Circular Quay that day.
An attendee at this week’s event said: ‘I was there today. The shot on the right (or today) does not represent a small crowd at all. The steps were separated from the crowd. The crowd looked at the stairs and sails.’
Other photos from the King and Queen’s visit to the Opera House show a huge crowd creeping back towards the ferry terminal and nearby streets.
However, the visit of Princess Diana and then Prince Charles in 1983 was noticeably different from the royals’ recent trip, largely to Diana.
Scores of Australian fans were desperate to catch a glimpse of Diana, then 21.
The entire Opera House was packed in March 1983 with fans desperate to meet the Princess
There was a furore when Diana came to Sydney in 1983
Princess Diana and the then Prince Charles are seen again in Sydney in 1988
It was also Charles and Diana’s first trip abroad together after less than two years of marriage, and the fanfare over the princess vastly overshadowed that of her husband.
During an interview with the BBC in 1995, Diana said that the apparent preference for her over Charles during the tour made her “uneasy.”
“The pressure the media put on both of us as a couple was phenomenal and misunderstood by a lot of people,” she said.
“For example, we were driving through Australia and all you could hear was, ‘Oh, she’s on the other side.’
‘If you are a man, like my husband, a proud man, then you will find it annoying if you hear it every day for four weeks. And you feel down about it, instead of feeling happy and sharing it.
‘With the media attention came a lot of jealousy, which created many complicated situations.’
The trip to Australia was depicted in the popular Netflix series The Crown.
This week there was also a large audience for the King and Queen
No fewer than 10,000 people showed up to support the King and Queen
Charles and Camilla stopped to talk to the public on Tuesday
