Topless welcome for Charles
The last time Prince Charles was in a town called Alice, he was accompanied by his beautiful young wife and baby son and greeted by thousands of fans. Today was a very different story for the 56-year-old, soon-to-be-remarried prince.
As he touched down in the searing heat at Alice Springs airstrip, Charles was greeted by only a handful of dignitaries and a group of bare-breasted Aboriginal women dancers, all in their fifties.
After shaking hands with the VIPs, Charles went over to the women of the Ntaria community to thank them personally for their performance.
The Prince smiled as the press corps snapped pictures of the dancers, who were covered in a red mud paint.
In the week when the prince has publicly been preoccupied with the passage of time, yesterday asking "look what's happened to me in the interim?" the welcome was in stark contrast to his last visit to Alice in 1983. Then almost the entire population of 26,000 turned out to cheer the Prince and Princess Diana and Prince William, who was nine months old.
The people thought they were greeting their future king and queen, but now many in Australia believe the monarchy's days are numbered, with opinion polls showing a rise in republican support since Charles announced he is to marry long-term mistress Camilla Parker Bowles. Insiders say even Charles now privately accepts that by the time he is due to ascend the throne, republicans may well have ousted the monarchy.
He was due to publicly voice his stance on the issue, saying the matter is in the hands of the Australian people at a dinner in Canberra on Friday. But sources now say his speech - which would reiterate this message - may not be available to the media.
Sir Elton John claims the Charles and Camilla ceremony will be upstaged as "wedding of the year" by his "marriage" at Christmas to partner David Furnish. Elton underlined his commitment to Furnish, his partner of 11 years, on the Jay Leno show in America after gossip last week suggested their relationship was in trouble.
He said: "Forget Charles and Camilla, this will be the real wedding of the year."
