The Queen was all smiles yesterday as she arrived in Australia after a gruelling flight from the UK for an 11-day tour of the Commonwealth country.
The Queen, joined by the Duke of Edinburgh, made the long-haul trip to open a meeting of Commonwealth leaders in Perth next week. The royal couple will be based for much of their time in the capital Canberra but will also travel to Melbourne and Brisbane, experiencing everything from a giant barbecue to a tram ride and a riverboat journey.
Looking relaxed, the Queen emerged from the entrance of a chartered British Airways Boeing 777 plane into brilliant sunshine and warm conditions.
The Queen, 85, and Duke, 90, had made a 22-hour journey from Britain, leaving Heathrow airport at 10 a.m. on Tuesday and arriving at Defence Establishment, Fairbairn, a military airfield near Canberra, 20 minutes early at 5.40 p.m. local time.
The plane made a refuelling stop at Singapore and it is likely the Queen would have had the facilities to sleep on board but she might not have got much rest while in the air.
A rare cold forced the Queen to cancel a visit to London’s British Museum last week in an attempt to get better before the trip to the southern hemisphere. Some commentators have described the visit by the 85-year-old monarch as possibly her last to Australia, but the Queen and her consort defy their ages, maintaining good health, travelling widely and leading active lives.
There was a slight mishap to the carefully planned ceremonial welcome as the aircraft missed its marker on the tarmac and when the air stairs were driven up against its side part of the red carpet disappeared under the vehicle’s wheels.
Governor-general Quentin Bryce, the Queen’s representative in Australia, and Prime Minister Julia Gillard were forced to wait on the edge of the carpet to greet the monarch and duke but the royal couple were unfazed.
On the shoulder of the sovereign’s aqua coloured Stewart Parvin military coat was her Wattle brooch, a yellow and white diamond gift from the people of Australia presented during the Queen’s visit in 1954 - the first by a reigning monarch.
A deafening 21-gun salute boomed out across the tarmac as the Queen took her place on a dais and received a royal salute from Australia’s Federation Guard, a ceremonial unit made up of servicemen from the three forces.
After inspecting the troops the Queen received armfuls of flowers from young local schoolchildren. But one bouquet she was given came from 64-year-old Margaret Cunningham who as a six-year-old presented the monarch with a bunch of blooms in 1954 when her family lived in Canberra.
The royal couple were presented with Aboriginal-themed gifts before they left for Yarralumla, the Governor-General’s official residence, where they will stay while in the capital.