Six days, five states, one territory, more than 30 events plus additional meet and greets, more than a thousand handshakes-a-piece shaken and hundreds of personal conversations; such is the stuff of this incredible royal tour.
The Weekly has followed the Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall every step of their Australian journey and one thing is indisputable, the royal couple has bucket loads of stamina.
Related: Charles and Camilla farewell Sydney with exclusive dinner
The final stop was one of exceptional dignity and ceremony at The Australian War Memorial where Prince Charles, accompanied by the Duchess laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and following a haunting rendition of The Last Post, a minute’s silence was observed.
Hundreds turned out to catch a final glimpse of the couple and true to form they summoned their last ounces of energy to dive into the crowds and greet as many Australians as possible.
“We love you Charles,” announced a voice from somewhere a few rows back prompting The Prince to head off in search of the speaker, while on the other side a young girl on her father’s shoulders calls “Hi Camilla.”
“Hello,” replied a beaming Duchess reaching for the young girl’s hand.
The waiting vehicles are filled with flowers given to the Duchess which an aide tells me will go to local hospices and children’s homes.
“These are for you and Charlie,” says a woman proffering two scratch cards, a final gift before the couple get into their cars and head off in a motorcade to the airport to fly to New Zealand.
The tour has certainly been a PR triumph for the monarchy, largely I feel because it has concentrated on meeting as many Australians as possible.
Related: Charles and Camilla meet Julia and Tony
With Camilla by his side, Charles seems to be really enjoying his role and you can’t help feeling this Prince is going to make an interesting, thoughtful, caring and rather good King.
Whether he’ll be our monarch remains to be seen, but following this tour he’s certainly cemented the Royal family’s popularity in Australia.
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