Inside King Charles' Australian Tour: Charm, Challenges and a ‘Friendly Cousin’ Approach (Exclusive)

Royal biographer Robert Hardman, author of "The Making of a King," weighs in on how the tour has unfolded amid moments of controversy

When Australian senator Lidia Thorpe interrupted King Charles' welcome to Parliament House in Canberra on Oct. 22 by shouting, “You are not our king,” it seemed his first visit to one of the Commonwealth countries where he is monarch could face challenges.

Adding to the tension, a statue of Charles’ ancestor, Queen Victoria, was vandalized with red paint, and the country’s government is led by a republican (Australian republicans generally advocate for Australia becoming a republic, meaning they want to remove the British monarch as the head of state.)

Despite these hurdles, as Charles and Queen Camilla move on to the next leg of their tour in Samoa, courtiers will be pleased with the outcome of the royal couple's visit Down Under, a veteran royal observer says.

An estimated 10,000 people gathered in Sydney on the royal couple's final day, a turnout that reflected how Charles' positive disposition in a country he clearly loves reassured many who might have otherwise been uncertain about their new King.

“Always in advance, the republican debate rears its head with questions about whether this is the last tour of this kind,” says Robert Hardman, author of The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy. “Republicans will say, ‘Of course he’s welcome as a guest, but please go home and take your crown with you.’ But what then tends to happen is that he is charming and personable."

'When people see him enjoying Australia and his obvious affection for the country, it is quite hard to get cross about him, as if he is manifesting some feudal ownership. He is there like some old friendly cousin coming to stay. I would say the tour has been a success, despite the incident [in Parliament]," Hardman continues.

Charles has deep ties to the country. “He likes being in Australia. Among the royal family, he has the greatest affiliation with that part of the world, having been there as a teenager. He loved it — it was the happiest part of his school days," Hardman says.

Related: King Charles Told by Indigenous Leader He Is ‘Welcome’ in Australia After Facing Shouts of 'You Are Not Our King'

Hardman, who is currently in New York on a speaking tour to promote his book, says that Charles has always embraced the “sunny Aussie attitude.” He reveals that when Charles was Prince of Wales, he seriously considered taking on the role of Governor-General — representing his late mother, Queen Elizabeth, in one of her realms — alongside Princess Diana in the 1980s. “The princes [William and Harry] would have spent quite a lot of their childhood there, which might have made for a very different outcome,” Hardman tells PEOPLE. “Everyone was very keen on it apart from Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s Labor Party. They wouldn’t buy it.”

It was 30 years ago, in 1994, when Charles expressed his openness to Australia becoming a republic, should that be the desire of the Australian people—something his aides reiterated just before his latest tour. At that time, the prince found himself at a low point in his life, having recently separated from Diana and dealing with the fallout from Andrew Morton's book Diana: Her True Story, alongside the scandal surrounding his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles.

"He was having a tough time," Hardman recalls. "Republicanism was getting underway. He made that speech saying he was all in favor of them having sensible discussions and that they must do what they had to do. He was basically saying, ‘If you want to be a republic, that’s fine; it’s not going to upset me.’”

However, the speech and the trip were overshadowed by a dramatic event that unfolded that same day — Charles faced a gunman, who was armed with blank bullets, emerging from the crowd unbeknownst to him or his security team. “He famously stood there and barely blinked," Hardman says. Charles' protection officer, Colin Trimming, quickly jumped in front of him and got Charles out of the way. “That made all the headlines, and we all rather forgot about his speech about the republic," Hardman adds.

This trip, of course, contrasts sharply with those Charles undertook as a younger, fitter man. Reportedly pausing his cancer treatment for this nearly two-week tour, Charles has scaled back his activities. “The itinerary has undoubtedly been reduced," Hardman says. "The impact remains the same as people turn on the news and see them having a good time in Sydney, in Canberra.”

Related: King Charles and Queen Camilla Arrive in Samoa as Royal Tour Continues

The author adds, “He has gone to the other side of the world with a serious disease. There is still a lot that they have done. The idea has been to cram a lot in, but don’t do an awful lot of traveling and make sure you touch all the bases.”

"This trip is a reminder that these bonds are much more complex than a binary decision between royalist or republican," Hardman says. "And that the aura around him has changed. He is monarch and it feels different.”

Hardman notes that Charles is "happy in his work," even following his cancer diagnosis. "He is in good spirits. He is not having to second guess what Buckingham Palace might think on a particular issue, as he is in charge," the royal biographer says.

By his side is his longtime love and wife of 19 years, Camilla, 77.

“She keeps his spirits up and is a reassurance, but she also steps in here and there. We know she is not particularly keen on long-haul travel and yet has thrown herself into this trip.”

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Charles and Camilla arrived in Samoa on Oct. 23 for the next leg of their tour, which focuses on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, bringing together the 56 nations closely tied to the U.K.

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