King Charles’ agitated comment as he stumbles over speech after manning Aussie BBQ

King Charles and Queen Camilla flipped sausages as they attended a huge community barbecue in Sydney today – and after the King stumbled over his speech to guests but earned a huge applause

King Charles and Queen Camilla celebrated the best of Australia with a sausage sizzle in scorching temperatures at a community BBQ.

At Parramatta Park in northwest Sydney, the royals were welcomed by a Smoking Ceremony and a Didgeridoo player. Charles and Camilla reunited after conducting separate engagements this morning, with the King being introduced to the Premier of NSW, Chris Minns and his wife Anna, while the Queen was introduced to the Deputy Premier of NSW, Prudence Car and her husband Brad Hulls. Moving towards the smoking ceremony, Charles and Camilla took it in turns to waft the smoke over themselves, a tradition that is meant to be good luck and clear away bad spirits.

They then moved towards the guests, which included community leaders, volunteers and charity representatives, and spent time shaking hands and greeting them Exploring the cultural exhibits, the Queen was presented with a Nature Cown, made from leaves, flowers and other natural materials, which she placed on her head to much applause. She turned round to the King and said: “Look what I’ve got.” He turned and said: “Oh, it’s beautiful” and noticed that it featured the herb rosemary.

The couple then made their way to the barbeque, where several different varieties of sausages were sizzling over the hot coals. They spoke to Surf Life Saving personnel who were in charge of the BBQ where the King and Queen were handed some tongs to flip over some snags – Australian slang for sausages.

Squeezing the tongs together, Charles swiftly approached the barbeque and began turning over the sausages, while Camilla opted instead to roll the sausages with the instrument. The lifeguards then presented Charles with his own iconic red and yellow swimming cap in a glass frame, prompting the King to quip: “Break glass in an emergency!”

As they made their way to the NSW produce stalls the King and Queen continued to stop and speak to the public. Camilla chatted to 11-year-olds Rohan and Lucas, the captain and vice-captain at Bayanami Public School who told them to “enjoy some sausages”.

On the other side, the King accepted a bouquet of flowers from Layla, 11, who said: “I wanted to give him a special reminder that the people in Australia are inspired by him.” Remembering what Charles had said to her she giggled: “He said it’s a good excuse to skip school, aye.” Anthony Field, co-founder of the music group The Wiggles popular with children around the world, met the King in a lineup of VIPs at the community BBQ.

Charles was introduced to ‘Anthony Wiggle’ as one of the hosts asked the King if he was familiar with the musician’s work. Politely Charles smiled and exclaimed, “oh yes, very good.” Anthony, whose hits include Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car, Hot Potato and Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy, said: “It was a pleasure to meet the King and great to see all the kids having a great time and being recognised for their efforts with their local groups.”

Australian superstar Delta Goodrem was also part of the invited guests, stopping to take pictures with local kids outside the Messina ice cream stall. The King also spoke to Olympian Jayden Lawrence, who competed as a wrestler in the 2024 Paris Olympics, while the Queen chatted to Paralympic swimmer Tim Hodge, who won two gold medals in the pool this summer.

Stopping to watch a sheepdog display the King chuckled when Colt, an Australian Kelpie, appeared to struggle to herd the cattle towards the pen. The sheep made their way in the right direction before dispersing and running in the opposite direction. It took several minutes for the sheepdog to get them back into the right place and the royal couple and the crowd burst into applause when they were successfully locked in their pen. The King remarked: “That was brilliant.”

Round the corner, the Sydney Thunder cricket team were waiting to give the monarch a gift, with player Chris Grant saying afterwards: “We gave him our First Nations Jersey our Indigenous playing jersey.” He added: “It was pretty special to meet the King personally and it’s amazing to see the turnout today.”

The King and Queen then joined Mr Minns, who organised the community barbecue today in honour of their visit, on stage where they both gave brief remarks. Both cracked jokes about the hourglass Charles presented to NSW Parliament on Sunday, with the King saying: “I knew I should have brought the egg timer with me to check I didn’t go on too long.”

Charles said he was delighted to be at Parramatta today, commending it as an “excellent choice for a community barbecue”. He added: “It is a particular delight to see and smell all the ‘top tucker’ here today, from Western Sydney’s vibrant and diverse community.”

Speaking of his joy that he was able to renew his long association with the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales, he joked: “As we are happily rediscovering today, New South Wales farmers continue to produce truly outstanding food and wine. It is no wonder, I think, that Sydney is world famous for its cuisine, whether it’s smashed avo, a pav, or a Cab Sav and that is what I hope has been on display.”

The King stumbled slightly during his four-minute-long speech and said over the microphone: “Hang on, I picked up two pages of this bloody thing” before resuming his place. He concluded his speech to much applause, with the royal couple then leaving to head to their next engagements.