King Charles Faces Health Concerns After Brief Appearance at Tribute Lunch Amid Controversial Heckling Incident

King Charles III has ignited worries about his health yet again after making an early exit from a lunch held in his honor in Australia, leaving after just ten minutes. The 75-year-old monarch, currently battling cancer, attended the event amidst fears that his illness may be affecting his royal duties.

During the luncheon, indigenous Australian senator Lidia Thorpe made headlines by heckling King Charles following his speech to parliament. In an attention-grabbing moment, she shouted provocative demands, declaring, “You are not our king! You are not sovereign!” Thorpe’s protests included calls for a treaty and the return of land to Australia’s First Nations. After being escorted from the venue, she took to social media to share her protest, including a political cartoon depicting a severed head of the King, underscoring her dissent.

This trip to Australia marks King Charles’s first international visit since announcing his cancer diagnosis earlier this year. The visit has been carefully organized to accommodate his health needs, which includes limiting the intensity of his schedule.

During the tribute lunch, King Charles expressed his appreciation for Australia and its people, gifting the parliament an hourglass, symbolizing the passage of time. Despite his warm words, the monarch left before the first course was served, leading many to speculate whether his departure was due to health reasons or the political tension sparked by protests during the visit.

Outside St. Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney, Charles and his wife, Camilla, encountered further protests, with demonstrators holding signs emblazoned with messages that read “Empire built on genocide” and “Decolonize.”

As King Charles prepares to return to the U.K. on October 25, he will continue his cancer treatment. The current situation has sparked intense discussions about his role as monarch and the complexities surrounding the British monarchy’s history related to colonialism.