Do we need King Charles III as head of state? | 60 Minutes Australia

good evening welcome to 60 minutes and welcome to London I'm Tom steinfit it's not often a 74 year old takes on a new job but such is the lot of King Charles III the new monarch has officially been crowned and now the near impossible task of filling his mother's shoes begins polling has shown that Not only was Queen Elizabeth immensely more popular than Charles so too is his son William his sister Anne and even his grandkids but it's not just here in the UK that the new king needs to win people over in Australia the r word Republic is being uttered once again tonight though those closest to his majesty want the world to know why he and queen Camilla will succeed [Music] in history King Charles III accompanied by Queen Camilla emerging onto the famed balcony of Buckingham Palace getting a moment that will stay with them for the rest of their lives this is the dawning of a new era those opulent crowns heavy not just with precious gemstones but also the extraordinary weight of expectation under typically miserable London Skies the traditional flyover had to be scaled back to a bare minimum Prince Louie's wife appropriately looking more like windscreen wipers as the slim down royal family marched on thousands of people who have braved the rain and are here to witness and historic moments but King Charles would have liked what he saw his loyal subjects braving the conditions on mass coming out in huge numbers a crowd even his much-loved late mother would have been proud of I think there was definitely a huge outpouring there and love because I've always thought about Charles that he's quite popular and I've always thought he'd be a better King than people gave him credit for it stopped the queen yeah it's not the same thing but it never would be who who could live up to that Valentine I feel woefully underdressed Tom nice to meet you you're glorious in the morning suit coming in Valentine low the Royal correspondent for the Times newspaper was inside Westminster Abbey and lucky enough to see every remarkable moment up close it is pretty extraordinary to see these great Traditions that have lived so long the basis of the of the coronation ceremony goes back over a thousand years uh and you just felt you were just part of History it is pretty fantastic the music was fantastic I mean The Bling I mean just the robes that the king wore were just stupendous um and it was a good show the service was steeped in Tradition but also with a nod to the changing face of modern Britain perhaps the most eye-catching of arrivals was the new heir to the throne The Prince and Princess of Wales along with their three children young George also watching his own future play out before him case in Charlotte were radiant in matching Alexander McQueen gowns and seemed to Revel in the occasion hi William Prince of Wales pledged my loyalty to you and faith and truth I will bear unto you as your lead man of life and limb so help me God but it was William involved in perhaps one of the most iconic and heartfelt moments of the day swearing allegiance to his father and sealing it with a kiss it's a very serious traditional service but I think we got pretty close to some real emotion and real affection there when we saw William approach his father yes I think that's right I mean they've had their moments they've had their ups and downs but I think that speaks to to the fondness the genuine fondness between the two of them the most reverent part of this ceremony saw the king dramatically disrobed and taken behind decorative screens to be Anointed with holy oil a tradition deemed too sacred to be broadcast [Applause] [Music] [Applause] then came the moment everyone had been waiting for this and Edward's Crown encrusted with 444 rare gemstones and weighing more than two kilos adorned with great Precision on the head of King Charles III God Save the King [Music] yeah yeah this is him fulfilling his Destiny um a Destiny is waited for a very long time [Music] unlike most of us watching a coronation for the first time Charles had seen it all before when his mother Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953. [Music] looking back it's striking just how young the new monarch was at 25 years of age and even younger still was her son only four years old this time around he's 74. the oldest Sovereign to ever take the throne yet it might be a five-year-old that many people remember from the occasion Prince Louise yawns and waves causing a sensation for Royal Watchers [Music] enjoying this I think this is the biggest day of King Charles's life after seven decades as heir to the throne now finally he is front and center but there were just as many headlines about the members of the royal family who were today pushed to the sidelines let the Dark Cloud that's always lurking on the horizon what's going to happen about his family relations what's the Clapping about Harry after months of speculation about whether Prince Harry would even bother attending he arrived at his father's coronation alone without his wife Megan and their children who decided to stay home in America relegated to the third row Harry's view was at times obstructed by a feather and while the heir and his family left the Abbey in a magnificent horse-drawn carriage the spear did a runner all by himself in a black BMW straight to the airport he was out on the limb I thought and it just spoke volumes the fact that though sooner the lead the service that he was into the car and off to Heathrow to to fly home and it just underlines what I think most of us have long believed anyway that we're still a long way off for there being any outbreak of Peace in the very fractured relationship between Harry and his father and his brother it's almost sad to watch yeah and it's heartbreaking to watch I mean I've you know because of course Harry you know although he's been quite annoying quite often he also has a huge amount to offer and the same is true of Megan and I thought she might have been the woman to do that but instead she cut and run and I think it's a great shame also barred from the iconic balcony display was Prince Andrew frozen out of the family following his friendship with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein with no role in the ceremony Andrew watched his brother become king and Camilla crowned queen from the far edge of the third row what do you think goes through Andrew's head when he's sitting there watching it all you know his brother's becoming king and you know his sister gets a very prominent role and yet he's cast aside I think I I would hate to I'd hate to speculate what goes through Andrew's brain because I think often not much he's not the sharpest uh life in the draw he's a man full of delusion the delusion being that this will all blow over it will blow over and they can come back other people might want him and that he might have a role to play he doesn't have a role to play but there was a humble violinist from Sydney and trusted with a very important role on the day Madeleine Easton had the honor of being the only Australian asked to perform at the coronation packing her bags for London for the biggest show of her life it's unbelievable because we haven't had a coronation in 70 years have we and so this is the first one in most people's living memory for me little old me from Sydney to be a part of that is really hitting home now and it's getting more and more staggering Madeline does have experience on her side when it comes to entertaining the royal family the virtuoso he is a member of the Baroque soloists and monteverdi choir which King Charles is not just the patron of but also a huge fan he pretty much has them on speed dial what's it like playing for the Royals I've played I've played Charles many times and we used to get invited to St James Palace to play for his dinner parties if I have people over at my house I put on a Spotify playlist but he can call you up and put on a big show well he likes live music I don't know if you know this but King Charles is one of the biggest classical music fans that there is he really cares about it he needs it in his life um he said to us once at Buckingham Palace classical music keeps me sane he said it calms me and it grounds me and he needs it in his life so you're you're key to the king's sanity apparently so oh my gosh I never thought that's clearly not true but hey for one minute I'll let myself think that [Music] beautiful new soundtrack to a day the king will never forget and neither will Madeline I think I've had one of the best days of my life I mean how do you top this it sounds like you're floating yeah I just didn't want it to end I was like oh my God there's that person oh my God there's that person there's Joanna Lumley you know there's Emma Thompson this Stephen Fryman got this Boris Johnson it's almost like the music was so good it transcended the occasion itself and I just thought man I am proud to be here with Madeleine's job done it's now time for Charles and Camilla to get to work so what exactly can we expect from our new king and queen nobody in the history of the British Monarchy has come to the throne better prepared it was absolutely a privilege to be part of history and of something which only comes along once in a in a generation it's a huge moment for anyone who's going to play a part in it when King Charles calls Scott ferson and wood answers and really who in their right mind could refuse an invite as glorious as this one bit pinch yourself moment it is a bit of pinch yourself moment absolutely I told my dad about it and he has a memory of of watching the coronation on the tiny screen of a of a rented television the only television set in his street when he was growing up crowding into a room to count a glimpse I don't think he ever expected that his son one day would be would be in Westminster Abbey for a coronation Scott represents the king as Britain's High Commissioner designated to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean but prior to that the pair was almost Inseparable having spent four years traveling the world together when Scott was Charles's Deputy private secretary am I allowed to bury one or two things on every Royal tour from 2017 to 2021 you'll see Scott hovering in the background never too far from his boss's side there to sort out any issue no matter how big or small is there anything that jumps out at you that kind of paints a picture of the kind of man Charles's my mum got very sick she had cancer and and uh it all it all ended very quickly in the end uh but he never met my mum he had no idea who she was uh but he took time without me knowing to send her a very long and Incredibly thoughtful handwritten letter which arrived in the hospital with a big bouquet of flowers just saying how very sorry he was to hear that she was so unwell and to say that uh he hoped she would find some comfort uh in those last few days in her pride in me and and the rest of my family but it's just one small example of the sort of thing that he would do time and again yes I have so many people in the public they see that Stony face of the Royals but you've seen the big heart I think that's right because that's just who he is it's not a it's not an act it's not something he puts on for the cameras or for the audience it's just it's just who he is and I think he believes that for the monarchy to endure and to be relevant in people's lives uh that that connection is really important can you eat your vegetables [Applause] he's a workaholic I mean he's literally a workaholic I remember the queen taking me into his study once to talk about some charitable Venture and the desk was piled high with papers we couldn't see him anywhere and eventually a hit popped up he was there but surrounded by so much paperwork as a longtime friend of Charles's parents Charles brandreth has had many an afternoon tea with the royal family but unlike a true Brit I'm not having any milk he says the new king and queen are just infatuated with each other interestingly in a way Elizabeth and Philip were not still do veteran once said to me love consists not necessarily engaging into one another's eyes but looking in the same direction but what you get with Charles and Camilla are a couple who do look into one another's eyes but also are looking at the same direction they have common values so Camilla is almost again to Charles's Yang I think they probably like all that I'm not quite sure what that means um so I'm not going to agree with it in case it's something but it'll be unsuitable but they do beautifully they do complement each other they work tremendously well as a team Giles believes Charles is trying to position himself as a man in touch with the plight of the everyday person typified by his choice to have a comparatively modest coronation if you can call it that was this insignificance to the fact that this was I guess appeared back to Celebration 2023 has been very different from 1953 this time it was curtailed I think partly because the the King was sensitive to times being tough you know the cost of living crisis not a time for extravagance and I think there was a bit of a tension between us the people saying give us the spectacle we we want people in bearskins we want marching bands we want all that and the King's saying let's not spend too much money [Music] Thrifty King a Thrifty King a Thrifty King and Thrifty with the guest list I felt very honored to be invited because there were only 2 200 people invited this time whereas last time they were eight thousand two hundred people so according to the number of people this is history that passes before us Giles has no doubt the biggest challenge ahead for King Charles is staying relevant a task not made any easier by the fact he's the oldest monarch to ever be crowned that you might exit he's going to be 75 in November but because he comes for a long-lived family his mother lived in 96 his father to 99 his grandmother to 101 he could well be king for 25 years [Music] I think at this time in the story of the world to have a steady older person as the head of state is quite comforting but it's funny when you put it like that you know who who starts a new career at 74. yeah and you've got to make it work the reason I think it will work and does work is because we know enough about King Charles to be you know confident nobody in the history of the British Monarchy has come to the throne better prepared you can always find a prince of Wales Pub wherever you go Scott ferson and wood was a right-hand man for Charles when he was the prince of Wales and agrees the King has been training all his life for this moment it's great to be in that in the ancient Abbey for that he's proud to have played a small part in the making of the man who's become his majesty what does it mean for you that you're our boss is now your king it means a lot actually it means a lot because I was very proud to work for him for those four years no one in my family had ever done anything like this before before me um my dad was a driver my mum cleaned other people's houses when I was growing up um I sort of stumbled into this by an indirect route so to be in the Abbey to watch him being Crown King uh really quite an extraordinary thing but not everyone is celebrating the new King in fact in Australia is the monarchy about to be dethroned the Republican movement has had to kind of play the long game on this one but do you feel like the next few years is the time to move I feel like tomorrow is the time to move tens of thousands of people lined London streets even in the pouring rain just to catch a glimpse of the coronation most of them were celebrating our new king and queen but some turned up purely in protest [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it shows even on the monarchy's best day loads of people still want to get rid of it especially in Australia I think the way that Australia is looking at the crown in its entirety is very different to during all of Elizabeth reign because there is a movement within so much of the Commonwealth which is having it now it's really you know open sleather if you like and everyone can question the crowd in a very different way I'm excited to see how Australia responds to it let's talk about Australia becoming a republic Craig Foster is the new co-chair of the Australian Republican movement pushing to scrap the monarchy tried to take the shot on his own little he proudly captained Australia for the socceroos and now is standing up again believing the leader of our country should be one of us foreign for our country could you be ahead of stuff then listen this is enough uh this is enough for me because I was thinking you know it's quite a step from King Charles to president Craig Craig's a good Australian name well you know what so is ashrif you know and Hakeem you know and Mustafa this is the nuts and bolts of it yeah you think that it's got to be an Australian face that is the face of Australia exactly and 50 years ago that face looked like mine in 2023 it doesn't have to it doesn't in federal Parliament anymore it doesn't in our institutions it doesn't in business it doesn't in sport and it shouldn't at the head of the state it's 24 years since Australia went to a referendum one for Australia to decide if we would become a republic and choose our own head of state Australia will not become a republic on the 1st of January 2001. in the end the no campaign won with 54.9 percent of the vote Republicans claiming in defeat that the majority of Australians did want to ditch the monarchy but just couldn't agree on the best model to elect a president the point of the matter is about um committing finally to this last step of you know maturation of any form of colony and that is standing completely on our own and being represented by ourselves for Craig it's a no-brainer Australia should be governed by Australians not some foreign overlords that landed here in botany bay a couple of hundred years ago and in fact it's just the natural journey of Australia he wants another referendum in the next five years and claims this time around it will succeed do you think enough people care about this because you know whoever our head of state is isn't gonna fix the cost of living crisis it's not going to sort out the potholes on someone's straight yeah there is a sense out there of who gives us stuff who our head of state is wow that's a really great question so perhaps you should ask that to all the First Nations leaders who are talking about what colonization means to them you know perhaps we should talk to the Multicultural communities who might say that well we've been here for decades and decades and decades but we're still not represented in all the institutions across the country and so it is important to Big sections of Australia it's incredibly important it's also incredibly important to many of us who believe that we have to stand for something both here and on the international stage of course saying goodbye to any long-term relationship it would be a wrench and there would be sadness as a long-standing friend of the royal family it's no surprise Charles brandreth loves the crown is it uh Charles Street and it's appropriate isn't it Charles believes that sometimes it's a case of better the devil you know but he says if Australia did choose to become a republic the king would still want to retain the close bond between our countries it'll always come with being part of the Commonwealth I'm not saying they're looking forward to it uh if it happens but I'm saying that their view they are there to serve if people in Australia feel having King Charles as the head of state has some value is attractive let's keep going with it and I love the idea of you having our King as a shared bond between us but if you don't fancy a Tom we're easy about that we we can take it you're big enough and strong enough we're big enough and strong enough if I were you I'd hang on in there and you may find when you get the substitute you may think oh they were quite no they actually were ready he was a decent guy and that Camilla she really was and William is and Catherine there and under the law and that George and Ruiz they're also a lot more we'd lost them we don't have them anymore you may miss them but I'm sure they'll still come visiting because they love the Commonwealth and they love Australia hello I'm Tom Steinfeld thank you for watching 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minute segments and full episodes of 60 minutes which are on 9now.com and the nine Now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 834,414

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Tom Steinfort, 60Mins, Amelia Adams, news, world news, news australia, investigative journalism, 60 minutes australia youtube, 60 minutes youtube, 60 minutes episodes, 60 minutes australia episodes, 60 minutes australia, 60 minutes, king charles, king charles iii, king charles the third, royals, royalty, royal family, british monarchy, monarch, republic, commonwealth, queen camilla, british throne, british royal family

Id: PW-198n_PAw

Length: 24min 40sec (1480 seconds)

Published: Sun May 07 2023