King Charles to spotlight conflict, climate in Australian capital

CANBERRA – King Charles III touched down in Australia’s capital Canberra on Monday, where the monarch honoured the nation’s wartime sacrifices before spotlighting a new fight against climate change.
Charles is on a nine-day jaunt through Australia and Samoa, the first major foreign tour since his life-changing cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
Smouldering native plants were wafted over the king as he stepped on the tarmac in Canberra, an Aboriginal welcoming ceremony that begins one of the busiest days of the Australian leg.
Bearing a swag of new military honours bestowed over the weekend, Charles laid a wreath in the Hall of Memory at Australia’s imposing national war memorial.
A 21-gun salute will herald the king’s arrival at parliament, where the sovereign will give a speech to lawmakers for the first time as their head of state.
The rest of the day has been set aside for causes close to the 75-year-old’s heart — namely conservation and climate change.
Charles will visit a purpose-built lab at Australia’s public science agency, which is used to study the bushfires that routinely ravage swathes of the country.
Later he will stroll through plots of native flowers at Australia’s national botanic garden, discussing how a heating planet imperils the country’s many unique species.