A view from the galleries, King Charles reception at Parliament House. Photo: Chris Johnson.
It was October 2011 when Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia for the last time and stayed for a week at Government House in Canberra.
On 21 October, a reception in her honour was held at Parliament House.
A similar reception was held in Parliament House just a few days ago to welcome her son, the now King Charles III.
I was at both of these receptions. So how did they compare?
It’s worth pointing out, first of all, that the two receptions were held exactly 13 years apart – they were both held on the same day of the month – the 21st of October.
But except for that and the usual pomp and ceremony attached to all such royal receptions, the two gatherings were not so similar at all.
The Queen’s reception was an evening event and a much grander occasion.
Many more people attended than did the lunchtime gathering for the King all these years later.
That has almost everything to do with scheduling and the amount of time each Monarch actually spent in the capital – a week as opposed to a day.
For the Queen in 2011, many more invites went out to fill the Great Hall.
Even media bureaus in the Canberra Press Gallery got an invitation for one person (maybe two for the bigger bureaus) and their partner to attend the reception – as guests, not as the working press.
I was the chief political correspondent for The Canberra Times in 2011, and despite my lack of interest in royalty, it was my then-partner who insisted we accept the invitation.
There were, of course, working journalists there, too, as well as photography pools.
But we were guests and, at best, I might have written a colour piece.
This time around, the guest list was much smaller.
Ministers and shadow ministers, prime ministers past and present, a few bosses from the public service and academia, and you pretty much have it.
Media numbers were tightly controlled, with only a handful of pool photographers and working journalists on the floor, with other press watching from the galleries upstairs.
That’s where I was, and the view above gave me the impression of a sparsely filled hall of the usual suspects.
Proceedings, including the meet-and-greet, were somewhat longer, as was the case when Queen Elizabeth was last honoured in Parliament House.
Gurrumal played guitar and sang for the Queen in that beautiful voice he possessed (his family gave permission following his death and funeral in 2017 that his name could continue to be used to ensure his legacy lives on).
The Royal Visit in 2011 was significant for many reasons, not least because the Queen was greeted in Canberra by a trio of women leaders.
Australia’s first female governor-general, Quentin Bryce, first female prime minister, Julia Gillard, and the female chief minister of the ACT, Katy Gallagher, all hosted Her Majesty in their respective capacities.
It was also significant because it actually felt like it was quite likely the Queen’s farewell tour of Australia.
She gave a brief speech at the parliamentary reception, opening by telling everyone how delighted she and Prince Philip were to be back in Australia.
King Charles’ address a few days ago was longer and more impressive than his mother’s 13 years earlier.
His visit and parliamentary reception were significant, too, in that, despite his strong connection to Australia and many stays here, this was his first visit as Sovereign.
After the speeches, King Charles and Queen Camilla came onto the floor of the Great Hall to meet briefly with some of the gathered guests.
Following the formalities in 2011, however, Ms Gillard ushered Her Majesty onto the floor of the Great Hall to meet guests along one side of the room for quite some time.
Gillard’s then partner Tim Mathieson introduced Prince Philip to guests lined up on the other side of the room.
I was on the Tim and Philip flank and had the pleasure of shaking Prince Philip’s hand while he displayed much more interest in looking at and talking to my wife.
We then crossed the room to get quite close to the Queen as she continued mingling with the PM.
It was all a hoot, and I left feeling okay about the royals and also thinking that they’d feel more than OK if Australia wanted to grow up and leave home.
One week later, I was in Perth covering the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, where Queen Elizabeth officially opened the summit.
And there, again, I thought she was saying goodbye.
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Riotact.
