EXCLUSIVE: I was in the room when Australian Senator Lidia Thrope savaged King Charles, branding him “not my king”.
Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe slammed King Charles in a vocal protest. (Image: GETTY)
King Charles had just sat down on stage after delivering his landmark speech when the protestor suddenly started yelling.
As one of the reporters in the gallery, I had also turned to take my seat before hearing the outburst below.
I quickly scrambled back to my feet and leaned over the balcony to get a better look at the woman hurling abuse at the 75-year-old monarch.
Recording the protestor from my phone, I watched as she calmly and deliberately made her way down the aisle towards the stage, where the king, queen, and other officials were seated.
→ Swipe to see more articles
Wearing a long possum skin coat, she yelled: “This is not your land, this is not your land, you are not my King, you are not our King.”
Australian Senator Lidia Thorpe heckled King Charles. (Image: Getty)
Security guards made a beeline for her and slowly but directed her towards the exit.
They didn’t forcibly remove her, but as they enveloped her to usher her away, she became increasingly animated, shouting: “You destroyed our land, give us a treaty – we want a treaty, we want a treaty with this country. This is not your land, this is not your land, you are not my King, you are not our King.”
It took almost a minute for security to remove the lone protestor. As she was being moved back into the foyer, she shouted: “F*** the colonies.”
While it all unfolded, the hundred-odd guests stood in stunned silence.
It wasn’t until I looked back at separate video footage that I noticed the King remained completely calm during the outburst, turning to quietly speak to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese sat beside him.
After the protestor had been evicted, those in the press gallery turned with raised eyebrows and shock at what had just happened – all aware that this one person was about to overshadow the King and Queen’s trip to Canberra and dominate the news agenda.
Asking how the woman had been allowed to enter so brazenly into the Great Hall, it quickly emerged that she had in fact been a Senator and was invited to the reception.
The lone protestor was Lidia Thorpe, an Indigenous Australian known locally for her publicity stunts as an outspoken advocate for Indigenous sovereignty.
In a statement after the protest, she said she was attempting to hand the king a “notice of complicity in Aboriginal Genocide” according to the Statute of the International Criminal Court 1998.
About a minute after Ms Thrope’s eviction from the hall, the King and Queen and other officials left.
They moved outside to meet members of the public before being whisked off to their next engagements.
