Rebecca English: King Charles proves himself a monarch worthy of respect

Very briefly, Charles’s shoulders sagged and he closed his red-rimmed eyes in what appeared to be sheer exhaustion.

Sitting in the drawing room of Government House in Canberra, it was an understandable sign of human frailty during his sixth engagement of the day amid a crowd of thousands and contending with 25C heat.

But that nano-second respite was soon over. From close by, I watched the King on his day’s final “grip and grin” (as they call it in the business) as he gave a jovial smile and waggled his eyebrows companionably as if to say “here we are again”.

Make no mistake, this visit to Australia and Samoa was a Herculean undertaking for the monarch, who will be 76 next month and had to pause his cancer treatment to travel.

His supposedly “slimmed down” program, with only one official evening engagement over the 10 days, was still relentlessly punishing. And yet the tour energised him.

Thousands of hands have been shaken. Kisses and hugs were unselfconsciously received. And every well-wisher greeted as if they were the first.

The look on Charles’s face as he starred at the 10,000-strong crowd cheering for him at the Sydney Opera House was genuinely that of a man exclaiming: “Really? For me?”

For someone plagued for so long by introspection and an almost Eeyore-ish self-doubt, it has been a remarkably validating experience.

In Australia, he was coming to a country where he had no expectation of welcome — and, if some opinion polls were to be believed, very little hope of ever winning it over either.

Indeed, many naysayers had predicted that support for the monarchy would quickly wither following the death of Queen Elizabeth, and the arrival of her considerably less popular son would only seal the deal.

In reality, the opposite has largely been true. Australians, even those ambivalent to the monarchy, have opened their arms to this complex but remarkably brave man.

The crowds were significantly larger — and far warmer — than anyone expected. Coverage in the media was glowing and demonstrations almost non-existent on the ground.

In Samoa, he was proclaimed a “high chief”, with his lifelong leadership on environmental issues lauded. Meanwhile, Commonwealth leaders praised him as a man with whom difficult conversations, about difficult issues, can be had.

One senior courtier recently told me that the British monarchy was rather like Doctor Who — constantly regenerating. That’s why it has survived for 1000 years.

And while he may be a King, not a time lord, it’s clear that Charles’s transformation into a thoughtful, constitutional monarch, who has finally earned respect in his own right, may no longer be science fiction.