King Charles III and Anthony Albanese: Australian PM reveals phone call with Monarch
The Australian Prime Minister revealed the conversation with King Charles on Monday night.
Anthony Albanese has described a phone call with King Charles III as a “privilege”, confirming that the monarch’s “affection for the Australian people remains strong”.
The Australian Prime Minister, once a spearhead of the country’s campaign for a republic, revealed the phone conversation with Charles on Monday night via a brief social media post on X.
In the post Mr Albanese said it was “A privilege to speak with His Majesty King Charles this evening.”
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The respectful tone from Mr Albanese follows revelations last year that he had ruled out any further referendums for a republic while he was Prime Minister.
Mr Albanese told SBS in September 2025 that despite his past support for an Australian move away from the monarchy, he would no longer be pursuing a change to the constitution to effect that change.
“Look, I’ve always supported an Australian as our head of state. But the existing arrangements are in place,” he told Insiders on SBS.
“We have, I think, a very respectful relationship and we have a monarch, His Majesty, who’s passionate and interested about Australia, of world affairs, and the future.”
That same month King Charles hosted the Australian PM at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
Monday’s phone call follows a busy time for the King, who has been forced to clarify the royal status of his son, Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan Markle following the prodigal pair’s return to the United Kingdom in recent weeks.
The King is also set to meet with the heads of major artificial intelligence companies this week in Scotland amid fears over the grave ramifications the technology could have if its rapid growth is left unchecked.
The New York Times reported that the monarch will meet in Ayrshire with leaders from such companeis as Nvidia, Google, DeepMind, OpenAI and Anthropic “to discuss how A.I. can be developed and deployed in ways that benefit society,” according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.
