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The Crown: What Really Happened During Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s Fateful Tour of Australia

By Elise Taylor

The title of season four, episode six of The Crown is “Terra Nullius,” a Latin phrase that means “nobody’s land.” Creator Peter Morgan no doubt picked it due to the presiding plotline: Charles and Diana’s 1983 royal tour of Australia, which coincides with the country’s growing movement to leave the British Commonwealth. Nearly 200 years earlier, Great Britain used the concept of “terra nullius” to justify colonizing Australia, claiming the land was unclaimed and unpopulated, despite its residing Aboriginal population.

But it also serves as a double entendre: Diana and Charles also find themselves in uncharted territory, a no man’s land. This is their first overseas tour together—and with the monarchy in a perilous position, a successful impression is paramount. Can they put aside their early marital problems, their clashing personalities, for the Crown? Or are they doomed to fail? While, for a brief moment, Morgan depicts the two sharing a moment of true connection, they are soon at odds again. After the tour is done, Charles takes a car back to their country home of Highgrove, whereas Princess Diana hightails it back to Kensington Palace in London. They never found common ground.

The episode chalks up their cracks to a multitude of factors: Diana’s supposed fragility—Charles gets frustrated that she can’t hike up Ayers Rock (now renamed Uluru) without stopping. The presence of Prince William—Diana wanted to bring him on tour and is anxious about their separation, much to the dismay of the royal courtiers and their strict schedules. Then, perhaps most of all, there’s Diana’s explosive popularity, which overshadows Charles’s: “This was supposed to be my tour! My tour as Prince of Wales to shore up a key country in the Commonwealth at a very delicate moment politically!” Josh O’Connor’s Charles screams at Emma Corrin’s Diana.

The Crown , at the end of the day, is historical fiction—the show takes real-life events and dramatizes them. So, in this hour-long tale of a very well-known couple, what’s fact, and what’s fiction?

It’s true that this was a politically sensitive tour: A wave of Republicanism was sweeping Australia, championed by its Prime Minister at the time, Robert Hawke. On March 6, 1983, a mere 12 days before Charles and Diana were set to fly to the continent, a television interviewer asked if Charles would make a good king of Australia. “I don't think we will be talking about kings of Australia forever more,” he replied. Then he said he thought people would eventually vote to have a republic.

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Princess Diana, Prince Charles, and Prince William arrive in Alice Springs, Australia. Diana was the first royal to bring her baby on an overseas tour, breaking traditional protocol.

It’s also true that the monarchy was worried about how Diana would fare. The tour was a grueling one, by any standards: a month long, the couple were set to cover 30,000 miles and make up to eight appearances in one day. And while Prince Charles had been doing this type of work his whole life, it was 21-year-old Diana’s first overseas royal tour. “The Queen is ‘terribly worried’ before the tour because of Diana’s youth and apparent shyness,” wrote the Press Association’s royal correspondent Grania Forbes ahead of the trip.

It didn’t help that the British tabloids had already started to paint her as unpredictable—the Daily Mirror had recently published an exploitative story about rumors of her eating disorder. While the international press waited for the couple to land in Alice Springs, Australia from London, The Sydney Morning Herald ’s Alison Stuart recalled the reporters gossiping: “Would she snap, would she cry, would she collapse from the heat?”

At the beginning, Diana did indeed show signs of fatigue. The Sydney Morning Herald found that during the tour’s first engagement, she looked “uncomfortably sunburned” and that her “eyes were downcast.” Charles apologized and said they were both still suffering from jet-lag. On March 22—three days after they landed in Australia—an Associated Press report described her as red-faced and bare-legged. “I can’t cope with the heat very well,” she said.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana at Uluru. While The Crown suggests Diana struggled due to the heat, reports at the time say her hesitation was due to her rather impractical outdoor outfit.

In The Crown , a scene at Uluru supposedly showcases the princess’s early weakness. Only a few yards up the slope, Diana suddenly stops while the press pack eagerly snaps photos from below. “Charles, I can’t. The heat. I feel dizzy,” Corrin’s Diana exclaims. She leaves him to climb the rest alone. “I think I need to go and sit down.” Afterwards, O’Connor’s Charles snarls to his confidante Camilla Parker-Bowles on the phone: “She’s pathetic .”

Video footage at the time does show Diana hesitating on Uluru. Yet it wasn’t fatigue that caused the pause—rather, it was her outfit. Dressed in a dainty white frock with flats, it wasn’t, well, the most practical of hiking apparel. Especially when there are cameras below capturing your every move.

Here’s an account from the Morning Herald : “As she stepped off the plane at Ayers Rock, she looked down in horror. Her dress, buttoned down the front was immediately blown open revealing her petticoat and knees. From that moment, the Princess made constant but hopeless attempts to keep the dress closed,” they wrote. “When Charles coaxed her to climb part of the way up the rock, she hesitated, not through fear of slipping, but because she knew that coming down would expose her knees and petticoat to the world’s press.”

In reality, except for a few hiccups, Diana executed a remarkable performance in those initial days. “Despite the predictions, Diana, apart from some strain and tiredness, has fared well,” said the Morning Herald at the time. “She might be made of tougher stuff than many think.”

Prince Charles and Princess Diana get ready to dance in Sydney.

As the royal tour really got into the swing of things—and Diana’s sunburn and jet lag likely died down—Charles and Diana thoroughly charmed the country. They dynamically danced at Sheraton Wentworth Hotel, with Diana donning a spectacular turquoise dress. Charles scored a goal at a polo match in Sydney and the crowd erupted into cheers. (As The Crown shows, he did also fall, much to his chagrin.) In Perth, they made headlines when Charles tenderly kissed Diana’s hand in public. “Prince plays the gallant at royal party,” read a headline in the Times of London. And although that scene that shows Charles and Diana playing with baby Prince William on a blanket actually took place in New Zealand, not Australia, they did delight audiences by sharing cheerful tales about their young son. (Yes, William did love his stuffed koala.)

Diana’s popularity started to massively eclipse that of her husband. “The Princess of Wales was the woman they’d come to see, and the people of the Riverland weren’t disappointed,” a broadcaster from ABC said on April 6. “The Princess seemed more anxious to meet the people than did her husband. She dispensed tidbits concerning Prince William’s health, the weather, and jokingly inquired of an elderly citizen if she had any whiskey in her picnic basket.” They showed clips of Diana swarmed by crowds, one man holding up a sign that read “Di is beautiful.” On April 15, the Melbourne Herald ran a cartoon that showed a map of Australia superimposed with a heart. “Princess Diana,” read a caption. “A permanent imprint!” Two days later, the Sydney Herald echoed the same sentiment: “Di Thrills the Queen!” said a headline.

Three days later, the Times of London cemented Diana’s smashing success. They printed the headline “The Princess who won the heart of Australia.” The story began: “The month-long tour of Australia by the Prince and Princess of Wales, which ended yesterday when the royal couple flew to New Zealand, was an unqualified success, due in large part to the Princess. She won the heart of Australia.” The Evening Standard took it one step further, saying: ”This tour has set Republicanism back 10 years.” In Sarah Bradford’s book , Diana , she quotes a bodyguard who said her reception in Australia was akin to Beatlemania.

Princess Diana, surrounded by crowds outside the Sydney Opera House.

Sadly, The Crown is right: Diana’s supernova star-power in Australia did make Charles jealous, and caused additional tension in their marriage. In a 1995 interview with the BBC , the Princess recalled that the attention she received during the tour’s royal walkabouts upset him. “We'd be going round Australia, for instance, and all you could hear was, ‘oh, she's on the other side.’ Now, if you're a man—like my husband—a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for four weeks. You feel low about it, instead of feeling happy and sharing it.” The press fawning made things worse: “With the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that,” she said. It was, in some ways, the beginning of the end.

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Relive Prince Charles and Princess Diana's 1983 Royal Tour of Australia and New Zealand, in Photos

The couple's iconic trip features in season four of The Crown .

The Prince and Princess of Wales touched down in the relatively remote Alice Springs. According to a People article from the time, the locale was chosen "precisely because it had never received royalty on such a grand scale."

Diana famously refused to leave her young son behind, as had been the royal custom for overseas tours up to that point.

For the most part, Prince William stayed with his nanny at Woomargama Station, a working sheep ranch where Ronald Reagan had once stayed. Charles and Diana visited with him frequently throughout their tour.

No trip to Australia is complete without a kangaroo, and the royal couple were able to spot one early on in their trip.

As is still the case, a large part of royal tours involves meeting with fans and glad-handing the public.

The royal couple hiked Ayers Rock during their stay in Australia's Northern Territory. ( The Crown cast was spotted recreating this same scene on location in Spain in 2019 .)

The Prince and Princess met with Australian Prime Minister. Bob Hawke and his wife, Hazel, in front of Canberra's Government House.

Diana chose a pink dress by Bellville Sassoon, one of her go-to labels, and a hat by John Boyd for a walkabout in front of the Sydney Opera House.

Charles places his hand on Diana's back as the approach the crowd of local fans.

The Princess wore a bright blue belted gown by Bruce Oldfield to a gala at Sydney's Wentworth Hotel.

The couple dressed to the nines and busted out their royal orders for a state reception in Hobart, Tasmania.

Diana famously loved to dance.

Charles and Diana show a little PDA during an engagement.

The duo wave from a balcony in Adelaide, Australia. Diana is wearing an Arabella Pollen suit and John Boyd hat, which pair well with her stylish bouquet.

The Princess of Wales opted for a red and white color palette during an appearance in Renmark, Australia.

Charles and Diana wave to the crowd during a walkabout in Perth. The Princess's hot pink Donald Campbell dress pairs well with a matching John Boyd hat.

Some of the younger locals get a chance to speak with the royals.

A young girl hands Diana a flower as she and Charles ride through Bunbury's Hands Oval sports ground.

Diana went full '80s in a ruffled Catherine Walker gown and pearls to attend a concert in Melbourne.

The Prince and Princess stage a photo opp in front of a highly photographable model pineapple at the Ginger Factory in Yandina, Australia.

Chloe is a News Writer for Townandcountrymag.com , where she covers royal news, from the latest additions to Meghan Markle’s staff to Queen Elizabeth’s monochrome fashions ; she also writes about culture, often dissecting TV shows like The Marvelous Mrs Maisel and Killing Eve .

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The Crown: Why Princess Diana Burst Into Tears During 1983 Australian Tour

By Julie Miller

Princess Diana and Prince Charles’s 1983 Australian tour—recreated on the fourth season of The Crown —proved to be an inflection point in their young marriage . It was during that six-week visit to Australia and New Zealand when Charles first realized how much the public preferred his pretty young wife to him. And Diana, in turn, realized there was nothing she could do to temper her husband’s jealousy or convince him she didn’t want the spotlight.

At one point, during the real-life tour, the young princess even erupted into tears during a public appearance outside the Sydney Opera House. The photographer who captured the heart-wrenching image, Ken Lennox , has since explained what he saw that day.

“I’m about four feet from the princess and I’m trying to get a bit of the opera house in the background and some of the crowd, and Diana burst into tears and wept for a couple of minutes,” Lennox recalled during ITV’s Inside the Crown: Secrets of the Royals . “Charles I don’t think has noticed [Diana crying] at that stage. If he has, typical of Prince Charles to look the other way.” During that tour, Lennox said that crowds would plainly tell Charles, “Bring your wife over,” rather than fawn over the prince.

“The prince was embarrassed the crowds so clearly favored her over him,” wrote Sally Bedell Smith in her biography , Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life . “For her part, Diana was upset by the disproportionate interest in her, especially when she realized that it was disturbing Charles. She collapsed under the strain, weeping to her lady-in-waiting and secretly succumbing to bulimia. In letters to friends, Charles described his anguish over the impact ‘all this obsessed and crazed attention was having on his wife.’”

Diana biographer Andrew Morton has said that the Australia tour “was a terrifying baptism of fire. . .Just 21, the newly minted royal was petrified of facing the crowds, meeting the countless dignitaries as well as the fabled royal ‘rat pack,’ the media circus who follow the royals around the globe.”

Writing for the New York Post , Morton added:

“When she walked into the media reception in the unglamorous setting of an Alice Springs hotel, she was hot, jet-lagged and sunburned. Yet she was able to charm and captivate the representatives of the Fourth Estate. Only later did I realize that the tour was utterly traumatic. Back in the privacy of her hotel room, she cried her eyes out, unable to handle the constant attention. [...] It didn’t help that Prince Charles, the former top of the billing, was reduced to a walk-on part, the crowds groaning when he came to their side of the road during their many visits. As Diana told me: “He was jealous; I understood the jealousy but I couldn’t explain that I didn’t ask for it.”

The couple’s only happiness during the tour came when the young family was far away from the crowds—visiting nine-month-old Prince William at the cattle and sheep ranch Woomargama, where he was staying with a nanny.

“The great joy was that we were totally alone together,” Charles wrote a friend, according to Smith. At the ranch, Charles and Diana watched William’s first efforts at crawling—“at high speed knocking everything off the tables and causing unbelievable destruction.” The new parents, according to Charles, “laughed and laughed with sheer, hysterical pleasure.”

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A Look Back At Princess Diana’s First Royal Tour Of Australia

Thirty-five years ago, prince harry’s mother, diana, made her first overseas trip down under to visit ayres rock and bondi beach.

Amid the news Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting their first child together, we imagine how Princess Diana would have reacted; overjoyed, overwhelmed, emotional. The statement would have read Harry’s mother was “delighted”, an adjective used by the Palace to describe every piece of good news.

Like every Royal story, there seems to be some sort of coincidental anniversary or some hidden milestone that gives it a whole new meaning. And Kensington Palace’s announcement that Markle is pregnant is not exempt: Thirty-five years ago, when Prince William was just a baby, Princess Diana and Prince Charles travelled to Australia for their first tour. The Royal couple – and William – spent 41 days travelling to Alice Springs and even dropped by Bondi Beach. It was Diana’s first overseas trip and she was just 22-years-old. It seems almost fitting then for a Royal baby announcement to happen, in our country, on this special anniversary.

On the other hand, it’s quite surreal to look back at this moment in time where Harry didn’t exist yet and Diana had no clue her life would be cut so short. While your timeline is filled with Royal Baby news, here’s a look back at Princess Diana’s time in Australia – her beautiful outfits, her grace and poise and the origins of those familial, caring values she passed onto her son, the Duke of Sussex.

topics: celebrity , Princess Diana , Meghan Markle , prince harry , royal tour , royal baby , Australia

Inside the Australia Trip that Made Princess Diana a Star

Diana said she was a "different person" upon her return.

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• The season's ninth episode, "Terra Nullis," focuses on Charles and Diana's six week-long trip to Australia in 1983.
• Here's the truth behind that precedent-breaking trip, including how Diana refused to leave young Prince William behind.

Technically , Diana Spencer became Princess Diana in 1981, when she married Prince Charles , heir to the English throne. But as season 4 of The Crown shows, Diana's growth into a figure of international adoration and respect—the so-called "People's Princess" —took more time.

"Terra Nullis," episode 9 of The Crown , depicts a turning point in Diana's personal life and public image–and the intersection of the two. Diana's first trip abroad would prove to be a pivotal one: The 22-year-old established herself as an instantly charming presence, fashion icon, and a royal rule-breaker.

Fast forwarding past the couple's elaborate royal wedding, The Crown instead uses the 1983 tour to capture the charged early years of Charles and Diana's marriage. In every scene, a new facet in their complicated union emerges. Charles's shock, and eventual jealousy, of Diana's effortless star status. Diana's longing to be adored by Charles and the crowds. Their commitment to work on their relationship—and how fragile those vows became, when tested by their unique circumstances.

For all these reasons, "Terra Nullis" is this season's stand-out episode. Here's the truth behind the trip that made Diana a star.

Princess Diana won over crowds of Australians.

Charles and Diana traveled to Australia at a tense time in the countries' relationships. Australia had just elected the Labour leader Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke in a landslide, and he wanted to eliminate Australia's ties to the Commonwealth and monarchy—essentially, everything that the Prince and Princess of Wales represented.

"The tour had a serious political goal—persuading the grumpy and increasingly Republican Australian continent that it still wanted a monarchy in the first place," Tina Brown wrote in The Diana Chronicles .

But according to Brown, Diana's vast popularity, which drew 400,000 people in Brisbane alone, "turned the whole mood around." Diana and her charming "lack of pretension" even "mesmerized" Bob Hawke, per Brown. "By the end of Charles and Diana's tour, a poll in Australia found that Monarchists outnumbered Republicans two to one..the twenty-one year old Princess of Wales had proved she was a dazzling new PR person for the British Crown," Brown wrote.

Years later, Diana told biographer Andrew Morton that she was a "different person" upon returning to England. She was a star.

Prince Charles was reportedly jealous of Diana's star power.

Australians rushed to catch a glimpse of Diana. They were less enthused to see Charles. According to Brown, people would "openly [groan] in disappointment."

"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," Brown wrote, cheekily.

Charles's letters written from the trip, seen in Penny Junor's book Prince William , give insight into his mindset. "I do feel desperate for Diana. There is no twitch she can make without these ghastly, and I am quite convinced, mindless people photographing it...How can anyone, let alone a 21-year-old, be expected to come out of this obsessed and crazed attention unscathed?"

Breaking with royal protocol, Diana refused to leave Prince William in England.

In The Crown , Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) casually establishes how royal tours normally proceeded: The parents traveled, and the kids stayed home. "We never took the children anywhere. When we took the children to Australia in 1954, we left them at home for six months," Elizabeth says in The Crown .

Diana broke with generations of royal precedent by refusing to leave her son, 10-month-old Prince William, in England while they were away, per E! News. Instead, William stayed at a "sheep station" (a large ranch) in Australia and the couple flew back repeatedly to visit him between destinations.

Yes, Diana spoke about Prince William's stuffed animals on a radio show.

As probably already gathered by this point, Diana was a major hit in Australia. During their stop in Alice Springs, Diana and Charles took a trip to a local radio station. In The Crown , Diana brings up Prince William's whale stuffed animal unprompted, whereas in real life, Charles whispered the idea to her. Brown, in The Diana Chronicles , wrote that Diana's lack of pretension about topics like motherhood is what helped her win over many Australians.

And they climbed Uluru, as Prince William would do with his wife in 2014.

In The Crown , Charles and Diana visit Uluru, a large sandstone rock formation that rises suddenly out of the desert in central Australia, and is sacred to indigenous Australians, per the BBC . As Life's special edition Diana: A Princess Remembered notes, the princess wore "not-so-suitable" shoes for the rigorous climb.

A video captures Diana and Charles scaling the start of the 2,831" rock—though not the part where Diana turns around.

In 2014, in a real full-circle moment, Prince William—who had been a baby on his parents' trip—visited Australia with his wife, Kate Middleton, and their son, Prince George (in line to inherit the throne). The Cambridges recreated Charles and Diana's photo opp before Uluru, taken 31 years prior, per Vanity Fair .

The couple made headlines for dancing.

As "Terra Nullis" shows so well, Charles and Diana's marriage had its triumphs and moments of synergy. One such moment occurred on the dance floor of a charity ball.

A video taken that evening captures their Dancing With the Stars -worthy moves.

They danced multiple times that tour, actually.

Diana spent time with Australian lifeguards, just as Princess Margaret once did.

If you're a lifeguard at Australia's famous Bondi Beach, there's a good chance you may, one day, get to speak to a visiting royal. Diana visited Terrigal Beach in 1983.

In her book Lady in Waiting , Lady Glenconner recalls accompanying Princess Margaret to Bondi Beach during an official trip to Australia in 1975. Unlike Diana, she wasn't as taken with her surroundings.

"One of the things on the itinerary for Sydney was a visit to Bondi Beach, which included a photo call on the sand with the lifeguards. On discovering this, Princess Margaret wasn’t happy. The idea of sinking into the sand during a formal engagement was not something she was interested in," Glenconner wrote, per an excerpt in OprahMag.com . Margaret was eventually persuaded to change into her flat shoes and proceed with the engagement, but was ultimately not pleased: “But weren’t those lifeguards disappointing?” she said.

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Elena Nicolaou is the former culture editor at Oprah Daily. 

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What Princess Diana and Prince Charles's 1983 Tour of Australia Looked Like in Real Life

Yes, little Prince William was there too.

Though the trip proved to be a diplomatic success, The Crown 's interpretation of the tour highlighted personal road bumps for Charles and Diana. He resented the public's adoration for her, while she was jealous of his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles. Diana also had to go through lengths to be able to bring a nine-month-old William with her and Charles abroad, rather than be apart from him for the six-week trip. Her decision, which raised the queen's eyebrows on the Netflix series, ultimately established a new precedent in the family. As we've seen with modern royals, Duchess Kate and Prince William went on tour with Prince George and Princess Charlotte, while Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry have taken their young son, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, abroad as well.

Flip through the photos here to see how The Crown 's depiction of the events compare to the real thing. And see how well the show did re-creating some of Diana's most memorable looks from the voyage.

March 20, 1983

Princess Diana carries a baby Prince William as she and Prince Charles arrive at Alice Springs, Australia.

March 21, 1983

The couple visit Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, in Uluru National Park in Australia's Northwestern Territory.

Charles and Diana walk together at Uluru.

Charles and Diana meet schoolchildren in Alice Springs.

March 22, 1983

Diana boards a plane in a white blouse and blue skirt as she leaves Alice Springs.

March 25, 1983

Diana waves while she and Charles visit victims of bushfires.

Diana sports a baby-pink number with a matching feathered hat in Canberra, Australia.

March 30, 1983

Charles and Diana attend a reception in Hobart, Tasmania. She wears a red Bruce Oldfield dress with the Spencer family tiara.

Diana wears a blue, ruffled Bruce Oldfield dress while dancing with the Prince of Wales in Sydney.

While visiting Newcastle, Australia, with Charles, Diana wears a light pink dress by Catherine Walker and a hat by John Boyd.

Charles and Diana arrive in Hobart, Tasmania. The princess wears a Bellville Sassoon suit and John Boyd hat.

April 6, 1983

While driving through Memorial Oval in Port Pirie, Australia, Diana wears a Jan Van Velden suit and a John Boyd hat. Charles smiles at the crowd in a gray suit.

April 7, 1983

In one of her most iconic looks, a pink polka-dot ensemble by Donald Campbell and hat by John Boyd, the Princess of Wales greets fans in Perth, Australia.

Diana smiles at the crowds gathered in Perth.

April 8, 1983

The princess greets a well-wisher during a ride at the Hands Oval sportsground in Bunbury, Australia.

April 14, 1983

Diana wears a red polka-dot ensemble at the opening of the Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne.

April 17, 1983

Dressed in a blue hat and red printed dress, Diana waves goodbye as she and Charles board the plane to leave Melbourne.

April 18, 1983

The Princess of Wales greets a Maori woman at the Eden Park stadium in Auckland, New Zealand.

April 20, 1983

Diana wears a dress designed by the Emanuels, who made her wedding gown, to a state banquet in New Zealand. She's joined by the prime minister of New Zealand, Robert Muldoon, and Charles.

Diana and Charles play with William on the gardens of the Government House.

Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now. 

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What Charles and Diana's 1983 Tour of Australia Looked Like In Real Life

As depicted on the show, Charles and Diana vow to make their turbulent marriage work during the tour, though things between them crumble soon after. According to The Telegraph , the royal trip did cement global “Dianamania” as she wowed the crowds with stunning fashion and her endearing presence. But it's not totally clear whether things were just as bumpy between the Prince and Princess of Wales behind the scenes as The Crown suggests .

Ahead, a look at the couple's real-life Australian tour, from the couple's famous dance to their photo-op with William.

March 20, 1983

The couple lands at Alice Springs Airport for the first stop on the six-week tour.

The Prince and Princess of Wales are joined by their 10-month-old son Prince William.

March 21, 1983

The couple poses in Uluru, otherwise known as Ayers Park, in Alice Springs, Australia.

Prince Charles leads Princess Diana around Ayers Rock during a royal photo-op.

Diana and Charles attend an official welcome ceremony at a school in Alice Springs.

Diana looks on as Charles delivers remarks to the crowd in Alice Springs.

Diana and Charles are greeted by schoolchildren during their visit.

March 24, 1983

The Prince and Princess of Wales meet Prime Minister Bob Hawke and his wife Hazel in Canberra, Australia.

March 25, 1983

The couple waves to a crowd in Cockatoo at an event honoring victims of bushfires in the area.

Diana walks alongside Prime Minister Hawke during a stop in Canberra, Australia.

March 26, 1983

A young girl offers Diana a flower during an event in Adelaide.

March 28, 1983

Charles and Diana ride through a crowd of Australians outside the Sydney Opera House.

Diana bursts into tears during the ride through Sydney.

Charles and Diana attend a charity ball in Sydney.

The couple dances during the ball, a rare romantic moment depicted in The Crown 's fourth season.

The pair continues their dance, which is set to Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" on The Crown .

March 29, 1983

Charles and Diana wave to a crowd in Newcastle, Australia.

The couple stands inside a vehicle moving through Newcastle.

Princess Diana gazes down at a floral arrangement while wearing a pink Catherine Walker dress with John Boyd hat.

Charles and Diana appear to hold hands during a public event in Australia.

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'The Crown' Season 4: First Look at Baby Prince William

The young baby prince joined his parents, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, on their royal tour of Australia in 1983.

Prince William is making his debut on The Crown ! In new photos from the set of season four, actors Josh O'Connor and Emma Corrin, who play Prince Charles and Princess Diana, respectively, are seen exiting a plane with their infant son, William. There were also several shots of William being held by his nanny in the show, on the steps of the plane. 

Season three of The Crown follows Prince Charles' love story with Camilla Shand (Emerald Fennell) before Diana is even introduced. The season ends with Charles and Camilla being split up by their families after confessing their love for one another. 

The Crown has already filmed several scenes with Diana, and the introduction of William, who was born on June 21, 1982, shows that the series is well into the '80s. The scenes with William come from the royal couple's 1983 tour of Australia. 

The real-life Prince William has not seen his family portrayed on screen, according to star Olivia Colman. In a recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Colman noted that she met the future king recently.

"It didn't go very well. I met Prince William at a dinner, and he asked what I was doing at the moment before he quickly added, 'Actually, I know what you're doing,'" she recalled. "I was so excited and asked, 'Have you watched it?' His answer was a firm, 'No.' But he was very charming and very lovely."

ET's Rachel Smith recently sat down with O'Connor, and he opened up about filming new scenes  as Prince Charles. 

"It's an iconic period for the royal family," he told ET, adding, "So far it's been fascinating. Emma Corrin, who's playing [Diana], is doing an incredible job... We're now in this stage where we all know what happens and so it's kind of more interesting now seeing how Peter [Morgan, the show's creator] carves out a story that we don't know."

Season three of The Crown is currently streaming on Netflix.

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Princess Diana's Refusal to Leave William Behind: How Royal Trips Changed Forever Once Babies Came Onboard

Barely 6-month-old archie may not be in south africa with his parents if prince harry's mother hadn't shaken up the system 36 years ago.

Princess Diana wasn't going to let history repeat itself.

Her husband, Prince Charles , had regularly been left in the care of his grandparents and assorted royal staff for weeks and sometimes months at a time when his mother and father went on official trips abroad. Diana would have none of it, and Charles—who wanted to be a more hands-on dad than his own—agreed.

When it was time for the Prince and Princess of Wales to embark on a 45-day tour of Australia and New Zealand—which would be Diana's first international trip, too—in March of 1983, they brought a 9-month-old  Prince William  with them, breaking with royal precedent and, incidentally, establishing a new normal.

Decades later, when grown-up William and Kate Middleton  went on their own official trip to those Commonwealth countries, it went almost without saying—though much was said, and it was delightful—that Prince George would be along for the ride. Subsequently, when it started being reported months ago that  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle  would most likely take baby Archie Harrison  to South Africa with them this fall—it was as close to a given as it gets.

While headlines have been cranked out at a rapid clip since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived in Cape Town last Monday, as expected, Archie appearances were what the people were excited for—and they finally got one on Wednesday, when Harry and Meghan brought their 4 1/2-month-old son (who is basically his father's double at this age) to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu .

Of course the royals of all generations make these trips with a sizable entourage, including a nanny, because most appearances and meet-and-greets in front of crowds of thousands aren't exactly suitable for babies and everyone from baby William to wee Archie needs to be looked after when mum and dad are busy shaking endless hands, soaking up the local culture and dining with dignitaries.

More than 100,000 gathered in Brisbane to get a glimpse of 21-year-old Diana—a fact that was a double-edged sword for Charles, who loved that so many people seemed to adore her and was proud of how she effortlessly connected with just about anyone, but who also was faintly annoyed that no one seemed to care if he was there at all (Diana reportedly didn't like the disproportionate amount of attention paid to her, either). Moreover, he was concerned about strain the hectic trip was having on his young wife, who had suffered postpartum depression after William was born and was still battling bulemia.

To be sure, Diana—who reportedly wanted to go home after a week—was happy to have William nearby, as opposed to almost 10,000 miles away in England. Though the little lad stayed primarily at a "sheep station" (what they call a large ranch-like property in Australia or New Zealand) with his nanny, Diana and Charles got back to see him as much as possible.

"We were extremely happy there," Charles wrote to some friends, per royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith. "The great joy was that we were entirely alone together."

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Similarly, Prince George spent the family's week in New Zealand (where they touched down first) based in Wellington with his nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, while Kate and William also toured Auckland, Christchurch and other cities. In Australia, the family was based at Admiralty House, the official Sydney residence of the Governor-General of Australia.

Throughout their 18-day trip, George made only a few appearances, albeit memorable ones, such as on Easter Sunday when he met the bilby named after him at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, a resident of a bilby habitat dedicated to the future king in commemoration of his birth.

The Sussexes', and therefore Archie's, home base in South Africa is believed to be the High Commissioner's house in Cape Town. Theirs is only a 10-day trip, though, and Meghan doesn't leave Archie for long. 

Since she concluded her first official appearance since giving birth, two weeks ago in London, by sharing it was time to get back to the baby "for feed time," it stands to reason the duchess is still breastfeeding. (In contrast, Diana only breastfed William for three weeks, though she continued with Harry for three months.)

Diana hasn't been far from Harry's mind in Africa, which held a special place in her heart and which the prince has for a long time considered a second home. Harry and William joined their father in Cape Town in November 1997, just over two months after Diana died, and Charles spoke warmly about his late ex-wife's humanitarian visits in Africa.

"Over the last few days I have been made very aware of the special importance to Africans of Diana's work to combat such things as AIDS, poverty and the use of landmines," the Prince of Wales said in an address  (after the boys had left to return to school) to a group that included South African President Nelson Mandela and Earl Charles Spencer, Diana's brother, who was living there at the time.

"Her efforts, I know, in these areas have brought a real difference to the lives of very many people on this continent and, indeed, elsewhere...I would like to take this opportunity to convey my sons' and my own gratitude to all those South Africans who took the time and trouble to express their condolences."

On Friday, Harry—who honeymooned with Meghan in eastern Africa and more or less picked the continent for this momentous family trip for all of the above reasons—channeled his mother on a walk through a minefield where deactivating teams remained at work in Dirico, Angola, as part of The Halo Trust, 22 years after she made her own walk through an active minefield in Huambo, Angola, which is now a bustling street that Harry then visited afterward.

"It's been quite emotional retracing my mother's steps along this street 22 years on and to see the transformation that has taken place, from an unsafe and desolate place into a vibrant community of local businesses and colleges," the prince said.

Remembering his first trip the continent in 1997, Harry told Town & Country   in 2017, "My dad told my brother and me to pack our bags—we were going to Africa to get away from it all. My brother and I were brought up outdoors. We appreciate the countryside; we appreciate nature and everything about it. But it became more than that...

"This is where I feel more like myself than anywhere else in the world. I wish I could spend more time in Africa," he continued. "I have this intense sense of complete relaxation and normality here."

Upon their return from their lengthy stay abroad, Diana and Charles decompressed for nine days on Windermere Island, and then it was time to leave again; they missed Prince William's first birthday on June 21, 1983, because they were in the middle of a 17-day tour of Canada. 

"I smiled myself stupid all day," Diana wrote to a relative, per Bedell Smith, "as the press were quite determined to see a 'sad mama.'"

(Ironically, Charles' mother, then still the future queen, was with him when he turned 1 in November, 1949, despite missing so much of his infancy to be with  Prince Philip wherever he was stationed with the Royal Navy. Starting in October 1949, that was Malta. After Charles' first birthday, she went to Malta, returned to London to have Princess Anne in August 1950, and went back to Malta after Charles turned 2.) 

William and Kate did leave George in capable hands back home when they made a relatively quick trip to New York in December, 2014, where they caught a Nets-Cavaliers game in Brooklyn, where they met  Jay-Z and Beyoncé  and, naturally, King James (aka LeBron James ). The next day William took a commercial US Airways shuttle to Washington, D.C., for an Oval Office meeting with President Obama.

Two years later, Obama went to Kensington Palace for an audience with a bathrobe-wearing Prince George.

Will and Kate packed the whole brood—at the time only George and Princess Charlotte —up for their own tour of Canada in 2016, exactly three years ago, but of course the kids stayed with their nanny when their mom and dad made appearances that might bore your average (or royal) child.

When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spent an evening in the historic Gold Rush-era town of Whitehorse, located on the Yukon River and a stellar place to see the Northern Lights, it was immediately labeled a date night because it was just the two of them.

Now a family of five, they haven't gone on an official tour abroad all together since Prince Louis was born in April 2018, but in addition to jaunts to Scotland they have brought all three kids to the isle of Mustique, one of their favorite vacation spots. 

In October of 1991, Charles and Diana brought 9-year-old William and 7-year-old Harry to Ontario, Canada—their first official international tour as a family of four—where their destinations included Toronto and Niagara Falls, and organizers had a heck of a time figuring out the already-warring royals' largely separate itineraries (as well as fit in fun stuff, such as a tour of a destroyer ship, for the boys).

In a sign of coverage to come, the press noted a day when Diana recycled a look, the CBC attributing her seen-before suit to the new "austere image" she was going for and acknowledging that royal watchers were looking for signs of distress in the couple's marriage.

"That means two sets of media buses, two sets of coordinators, two sets of motorcades, two sets of security—it's two tours in one," one of their men on the ground in Toronto  explained to the CBC .

Private troubles aside, a photograph taken of Diana on that trip, charging up the gangplank of the ship  Britannia to hug her boys, became one of her all-time favorite pictures.

Already leading increasingly separate lives at home, it was the last trip to Canada for Charles and Diana together. She went on a solo official visit to Pakistan that fall and they went to India in February, 1992, where Diana infamously posed alone in front of the Taj Mahal. She tried to pull out of a promised trip with Charles to South Korea that November, but the queen requested that she go, as scheduled. Their separation was formally announced in December.

Canada circa 1991 was a far cry from Australia/New Zealand in 1983, when William was a baby and Charles and Di were as close as they'd ever be.

Charles had written in his letter that, in their quiet moments when they got to steal away and be alone with their son, they relished watching him crawling, "knocking everything off the tables and causing unbelievable destruction" He and Diana "laughed and laughed with sheer, hysterical pleasure."

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William, Kate and baby George to be greeted in Sydney by nostalgic public

Australians will welcome royal couple and eight-month-old future head of state as poll shows strong support for monarchy

With nostalgia and a renewed investment in imperial-sounding titleage, the Australian public will welcome the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their eight-month-old Prince George of Cambridge to Sydney on Wednesday.

In March 1983, aged just nine months, William made his first overseas appearances during Charles and Diana’s tour of Australia and New Zealand. They were often brief. Just a few minutes on the Tarmac at Alice Springs airport when they touched down in Australia, for example. William was carried off the plane by a nanny, Charles complained about the flies, and the 21-year-old Diana pecked the baby on the cheek before he was whisked back up and flown off to a nursery in Melbourne.

Australia will be hoping for more time with the royal child on this occasion.

Support for the Queen, who remains the head of state in Australia, has not been higher in 20 years. Polling in February revealed that only 39% of Australians supported the establishment of an Australian republic, with 41.6% opposing it.

Riding the wave of aristocratic fervour, Tony Abbott announced in March he had taken an executive decision to introduce a new tier of honours, bringing back the titles of knights and dames. Critics saw the prime minister's move as a return to the dark ages but it had the backing of many in Australia’s rightwing press. “God Save the Queen,” said the Murdoch Brisbane tabloid the Courier-Mail, on a retro front page .

Back in 1983 New Zealand was the second point of call. No doubt a sore point for the vocal pro-monarchist lobby in Australia, who have had to wait their turn this time around as the royals complete nine days on the other side of the Tasman Sea.

Mark Salmon, a spokesman for the Australian Monarchist League, said his group, which boasts some 15,000 members, planned to hand out Australian flags at every event the royal attends on their 10 days in Australia.

Did the league have any celebratory events planned itself? “No. We don’t want to be a distraction to the official visit,” came the duly humble response.

And what of the republicans? David Morris, national director of the Australian Republican Movement, said he did not expect any protests. “They’re very welcome,” he said, “but affection is not allegiance.”

The couple face a wide-ranging itinerary. From the formal – an engagement with the prime minister in Sydney – to the twee: a visit to the Royal Easter show. The royal couple will visit Taronga Zoo on Easter Day to visit the bilby enclosure. One of the tiny endangered marsupials is named in the baby prince’s honour, a gift from the ex-prime minister Kevin Rudd, who did not swear allegiance to the Queen on his first stab at the job back in 2007.

Back in late July, on the day of George’s birth, it took Rudd nearly a full day to announce Australia’s official gift to the newborn prince. New Zealand obviously outdid Australia, announcing its gift, an expertly knitted “fine laced” shawl, hours earlier and staging a 21-gun salute outside parliament.

After the royals visibly enjoyed their time with the Kiwis – complete with traditional buttock tattoos , baby playdates , and a sail on the Auckland harbour – Australia will be sure to pull out all the stops come Wednesday.

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The real story behind that photo of princess diana.

Princess Diana’s and Prince Charles’s 1983 tour of Australia and New Zealand was supposed to show the young couple’s fairytale love story to the world. However, in one heartbreaking photo that has become infamous from this trip, we saw Diana clearly overwhelmed and breaking down in front of crowds. We take a look at the real story behind this distressing photo here.

The 1983 tour of Australia was Diana’s first overseas royal tour. Keep in mind that she was only 21 years old at the time and had just welcomed baby Prince William . Even if Diana had been experienced with royal tours, the 1983 tour was grueling by any standards . Although it was only four weeks long, the royal couple was set to cover 30,000 miles and make up to eight public appearances in one day.

During this tour, Prince Charles seemed to realize how much the public preferred his wife to him. This realization couldn’t have been easy for Charles’s ego, but also must have been extremely difficult for Diana. She realized there was nothing she could do to ease her husband’s jealousy or convince him she didn’t want to be in the spotlight.

In fact, at one point during the tour while in Sydney, Princess Diana broke down in tears during an official public appearance outside the Sydney Opera House. Ken Lennox, a royal photographer who accompanied the royal couple on their 1983 tour, captured the famous photo of Diana breaking down.

Lennox was trying to get a photograph with the Sydney Opera House in the background of his photos when he first realized something was wrong. “I’m about four feet from the princess and I’m trying to get a bit of the opera house in the background and some of the crowd, and Diana burst into tears and wept for a couple of minutes.” He went on to say that “Charles, I don’t think, had noticed [Diana crying] at that stage. If he has, typical of Prince Charles to look the other way!”

After seeing how upset Diana was, Lennox went to see the press officer for the prince and princess to tell them what he had witnessed. However, the press officer told Lennox that everything was fine and that the royal couple was just “experiencing jet lag and adapting to the heat.” At the time, Lennox accepted this as a valid reason for Diana’s tears, but he later realized that this was the first sign that something was really wrong with the royal couple’s relationship.

What the royal press officer said was partially true. According to biographer Andrew Morton’s book Diana: Her True Story In Her Own Words, she recalled, “there were thousands of press following us… It was hot, I was jet-lagged, being sick. I was too thin. The whole world was focusing on me every day.”

Diana told Andrew Morton that she would often come back from engagements on the Australian tour crying her eyes out. She would tell her lady-in-waiting that she has “got to go home. I can’t cope with this.”

Charles was clearly growing resentful that the public preferred Diana to him. In her biography on Prince Charles, author Sally Bedell Smith wrote that “the prince was embarrassed the crowds so clearly favored her over him.” However, from Diana’s perspective, she “was upset by the disproportionate interest in her, especially when she realized that it was disturbing Charles.” In fact, in private letters to his friends, Charles revealed that he was upset with all the “obsessed and crazed attention” his wife was receiving.

Diana confirmed Charles’ jealousy in a 1995 interview with the BBC. When recalling the attention she was getting during the 1983 royal tour, Diana said, “We’d be going around Australia, for instance, and all you could hear was, ‘oh, she’s on the other side.’ Now, if you’re a man- like my husband- a proud man, you mind about that if you hear it every day for four weeks. You feel low about it instead of feeling happy and sharing it.” Diana also revealed that “with the media attention came a lot of jealousy. A great deal of complicated situations arose because of that.”

More from us: The Unhappy Royal Couple ”“ Charles and Diana’s Loveless Marriage

In some ways, the 1983 royal tour was the beginning of the end of Diana and Charles’s marriage, and the photo of Diana breaking down confirms the strains that emerged.

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Kate Middleton and Prince William Australia Tour: Dates and Full Itinerary

Clarence House has released the dates and detailed itinerary of Prince William and Kate Middleton's upcoming trip to Australia and New Zealand.

The Duke and Duchess have been invited to visit by the New Zealand and Australian governments in April. The royal couple will also take their baby son, Prince George, along.

The itinerary states the young royal family will first visit New Zealand, arriving there on 7 April. They will begin the second leg of their three-week tour to Australia on 16 April. The royal tour concludes on Friday, 25 April.

The trip will be Kate's first visit to both the countries while William has been there several times. However since becoming mom and dad to royal baby George in July, William and Kate will make their first official overseas visit.

"The Tour will provide the opportunity for The Duke and Duchess to visit a number of towns and cities across both countries. Specific events will celebrate Australia's and New Zealand's success in the fields of technology, tourism, sports and the creative arts," Clarence House said in a statement.

"In what is the one-hundredth anniversary of the start of the First World War, The tour will also include several opportunities to recognise the sacrifice of members of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces."

William and Kate will attend a ceremony in Blenheim, New Zealand, and the ANZAC Commemorative Service in Canberra, Australia.

To commemorate the royal tour, New Zealand Post will release two stamps and a silver coin featuring William, Kate and George.

Here is the full detail of Prince William and Kate Middleton's itinerary.

In New Zealand, The Duke and Duchess will visit:

Wellington (7, 9 and 16 April; will be their base) Blenheim (10 April) Auckland (11 April) Hamilton and Cambridge (12 April) Dunedin and Queenstown (13 April) Christchurch (14 April) - Their Royal Highnesses will witness the city's reconstruction programme and view its plans for the future following the February 2011 earthquake.

The royal couple will retire privately for a day in New Zealand before arriving in Australia.

In Australia, they will visit:

Sydney, NSW (16, 18 and 20 April) Blue Mountains, NSW (17April) – The Duke and Duchess will visit the area that was badly hit by bushfires in October 2013 Brisbane, QLD (19 April) Uluru (Ayer's Rock), NT (22 April) Adelaide, SA (23 April) Canberra, ACT (24 and 25 April)

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Kate Middleton, Prince William, Prince George to Tour Australia, New Zealand: Itinerary Details!

Royals Down Under! Prince William and wife Kate Middleton have announced their plans to tour Australia and New Zealand for about three weeks in mid-April. 

Adding to the overseas fun (and photo pops!), the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are bringing along their 7-month-old son Prince George . The third in line to the throne will have one nanny to accompany his parents on their voyage, and George is expected to attend several of the couple's engagements dependent upon his mood.

Related: PHOTOS: Kate Middleton's post-baby evolution

Middleton is also bringing along her own private hairdresser and is expected to have approximately 32 outfit changes. 

The royal family will start their tour in New Zealand on April 7, visiting seven of the island country's cities including Wellington, Blenheim, Auckland, Hamilton and Cambridge, Dunedin, Queenstown, and Christchurch. On April 16, they will move on to Australia, visiting six cities including Sydney, Blue Mountains, Brisbane, Uluru, Adelaide, and Canberra. 

Private secretary to the Duke of Cambridge, Miguel Head, revealed more about the trip in a press conference on March 2. 

Related: PHOTOS: Royal family tree

"The Duchess has never visited either country, so this is a chance for her to meet the people of New Zealand and Australia for the first time," Head said. "The Duke last visited New Zealand in March 2011, shortly after the devastating earthquake in Christchurch. During the same visit, he also went to Victoria and Queensland in Australia, which had been very badly affected by natural disasters. So, for the couple, this visit represents a wonderful opportunity on the one hand for The Duke to deepen his personal relationship with, and admiration for, New Zealand and Australia; and on the other, for the Duchess to experience some of the extraordinary warmth and hospitality for which the people of both countries are renowned the world over." 

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The couple will have a total of 48 engagements, including George's first — a reception at the Government House in Wellington. Some of the Duke and Duchess' fun outings will include a 50-mile-per-hour white water ride in Queenstown and a race each in yachts across Auckland Harbour in New Zealand.

Related: PHTOOS: Royal family album

Queen Elizabeth granted special permission for William and Prince George to travel together since direct heirs to the throne don't normally fly together. 

Apart from a brief private family vacation to the West Indies island of Mustique in late January 2014, Prince George hasn't been seen outside of London since his October 2013 christening. This trip will put the adorable baby back in the spotlight.  ?

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Prince William and Kate in early talks to tour Australia next year, Prime Minister says

Prince William and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, may be packing their bags for a visit to Australia next year, the first royal visit since the Queen's death, the Prime Minister has hinted.

Key points:

• The Prince and Princess of Wales have had early discussions to tour Australia next year
• The pair last visited in 2014
• A planned visit in 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19

Responding to rumours of a royal visit, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the British media outlet ITV there had been early talks of a visit by the new Prince and Princess of Wales.

"There have  been some preliminary discussions about the now Prince and Princess of Wales visiting Australia," he said.

"And, of course, the royal family have always been welcome visitors here in Australia and they would be again."

Mr Albanese said there had been no discussions of King Charles III visiting, but he has previously said the sovereign has a "standing invitation".

If the prince and princess toured Australia next year it would be their first visit since 2014 with a then-baby George.

The family had planned to come to Australia in 2020 but the visit was cancelled following the onset of the pandemic.

Mr Albanese said he hoped that if the couple visited "they bring their children with them", despite jokes of Prince George being a "republican slayer" when the family last toured.

The last visit to Australia by a royal was by Anne, the Princess Royal, in April 2022.

King Charles III last travelled to Australia in 2018.

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King Charles 'shocked and horrified' about 'senseless' Sydney attack in second royal statement

King Charles is "shocked and horrified" about the "senseless" Sydney attack in the second royal statement of the day.

The King and his wife, Queen Camilla, sent their heartfelt sympathies to all those involved in the knife attack that left six people dead at a mall in Sydney, Australia.

The statement read: “My wife and I were utterly shocked and horrified to hear of the tragic stabbing incident in Bondi.

"Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who have been so brutally killed during such a senseless attack.

"While details of these shocking circumstances are still emerging, our thoughts are also with those who were involved in the response, and we give thanks for the bravery of the first responders and emergency services. Charles R.”

The Prince and Princess of Wales also issued a statement following the knife attack at Westfield Bondi Junction.

Princess Kate and Prince William said that they were "shocked and saddened" by the tragic event.

Eight victims, including a nine-month-old baby, were rushed to hospital as paramedics hurried to the scene.

The 40-year-old man was shot dead by police at Westfield Bondi Junction.

The mall went into lockdown shortly before 4pm local time as hundreds rushed to exit the premises, with the police declaring a "major incident."

King Charles is expected to travel to Australia in October as part of a long-haul international tour.

Plans surrounding the tour were put into question after the monarch announced his cancer diagnosis in February.

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However, plans seem to still be going ahead as the Australian Government asked for submissions from premiers and chief ministers as they plan what territories to include for the monarch’s visit.

The royal voyage has been scheduled around the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Samoa which begins on October 21, 2024.

Charles last visited the country in 2018 when he was the Prince of Wales and both Prince William and Prince Harry have visited the country in the last few years.

The King has travelled to the country 15 times on working trips and also studied for six months at the Timbertop, Geelong Grammar School in Victoria.

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Kate Middleton and Prince William React to Australia Stabbing Attack: 'We Are Shocked and Saddened'

"Our thoughts are with all those affected," the royal couple said

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Kate Middleton and Prince William are expressing their condolences.

After a stabbing attack took place at a shopping mall in Sydney, Australia, on April 13, the Prince and Princess of Wales reacted with a post shared on their Instagram Stories .

"We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events in Sydney earlier today," Kate, 42, and William, 41, began.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected, including the loved ones of those lost and the heroic emergency responders who risked their own lives to save others," the royal couple continued, signing off their message: "W & C."

The social media post marks Kate's first since her cancer diagnosis announcement . In a self-written speech filmed in the garden of Windsor and shared on March 22, the Princess of Wales said that she is undergoing "preventative chemotherapy" after tests following her  abdominal surgery  in January "found cancer had been present."

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In a message of his own, King Charles said, "My wife and I were utterly shocked and horrified to hear of the tragic stabbing incident in Bondi."

"Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of those who have been so brutally killed during such a senseless attack," he continued. "While details of these shocking circumstances are still emerging, our thoughts are also with those who were involved in the response, and we give thanks for the bravery of the first responders and emergency services."

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Seven people died and others, including a 9-month-old baby, are left in critical condition after a man attacked shoppers with a knife at a mall in Sydney on April 13.

The individual fatally stabbed six people and injured several others at Westfield Shopping Center in Bondi Junction in Sydney in the afternoon, New South Wales Police Force confirmed in a  press release . The attacker was shot dead at the scene.

In a news conference, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said, per  7News Australia , that among the deceased in the attack are four women and one male, who all died at the shopping center. One woman also died later in the hospital, Webb confirmed in the conference. 

The infant, and eight others, meanwhile, were injured and transported to hospitals around Sydney for their injuries, Webb said.

DAVID GRAY/AFP via Getty 

During her press conference, Webb also said that police have since closed the shopping area and it will remain closed on April 14 as an investigation is ongoing. 

She added that police are confident there is "no ongoing risk."

Detailing how the investigation into the incident will proceed, authorities wrote in their April 13 release, “A critical incident team comprised of State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad and the Central Metropolitan Region will now investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. The investigation will also be subject to an independent review."

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Alongside Kate and William, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also reacted to the attack on social media.

“I have been briefed by the AFP on the devastating events at Bondi Junction. Tragically, multiple casualties have been reported and the first thoughts of all Australians are with those affected and their loved ones," he wrote on  X  (formerly Twitter).

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The Prince and Princess of Wales have been enjoying a quiet holiday in Norfolk, in England’s east, with their three children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, over the Easter break.

William’s last public duty before now was at an event focusing on homelessness in mid-March, just three days before Kate released a video sharing details of her diagnosis. It’s now been confirmed that he will next appear at two charity organisations in Surrey, south of London, and in the capital itself on Thursday.

The prince will first visit Surplus to Supper, a food redistribution initiative, and then meet with staff at a youth centre.

After weeks of speculation about her health, Kate revealed in an emotional, two-minute video last month that she’d been undergoing treatment for an undisclosed form of cancer.

“I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you, personally, for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding while I have been recovering from surgery,” the 42-year-old began in the clip.

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“It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family, but I’ve had a fantastic medical team who have taken great care of me, for which I am so grateful.”

Kate added that the cancer was discovered after her abdominal surgery in January, and that it had come as a “huge shock”.

It later emerged that news of the princess’ diagnosis was kept mostly within the confines of her immediate family and the wider announcement left “everyone reeling” among her inner circle.

After swirling chatter he could eventually return to the UK, the Duke of Sussex has made an official decision about his future.

The Duchess of Sussex is harbouring a growing fear as the rift widens between her and Harry’s family, it’s been claimed.

The Duchess has faced claims of a difficult working environment which reportedly made it hard to find people willing to work with her.