Ms Thorpe had been one of the invited guests gathered inside the Great Hall ahead of Their Majesties’ arrival when her opposition to their visit was first made clear.

She turned her back as a large video screen showed the King standing to attention outside during the official welcome while a band played the national anthem.

The King and Queen only touched down in the capital city this morning and will be returning to Sydney this evening but he is understood to be “unruffled” by the lone protestor and will not let it overshadow what has otherwise been a wonderful day.

Ms Thorpe’s protest came just seconds after the King concluded his speech, which covered his time as a school student in Australia, the Covid pandemic, and Australia’s vulnerability to climate change.

In his speech, King Charles spoke affectionately about his relationship with Australia, a country he first visited as a teenager, saying he arrived as an “adolescent” and left more “chiselled” after his experience studying in the Outback.

He also highlighted the debt he owed to Australia’s indigenous people.

Charles said: “In my many visits to Australia, I have witnessed the courage and hope that have guided the nation’s long and sometimes difficult journey towards reconciliation.

“Throughout my life, Australia’s First Nations peoples have done me the great honour of sharing, so generously, their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom.”

Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has a long-held aim of holding a referendum on breaking ties with the British monarchy and his country becoming a republic.

But the plans were put on hold after Australians overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give greater political rights to indigenous people in a referendum held last year.