King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Upcoming Tour Won’t Use This Royal Word — Ins…see more

King Charles and Queen Camilla’s Upcoming Tour Won’t Use This Royal Word — Inside Why
“Walkabouts” won’t technically be on the schedule, but will proceed under another name

King Charles and Queen Camilla won’t call meeting well-wishers “walkabouts” when they tour Australia and Samoa in a show of sensitivity towards indigenous groups there.

On Sept. 10, Buckingham Palace released new details about the King and Queen’s trip in October. The tour is especially significant, as it marks the sovereign’s first tour to Commonwealth countries since his accession and is planned as he continues treatment for cancer. Following the announcement, The Telegraph reported that the term “walkabout” will not be used during the royal tour and will be “deliberately avoided” during such an event for the first time ever because of another meaning.

“While the term has become a shorthand for a member of the royal family meeting and greeting well-wishers, it is used in Aboriginal culture to mean when a person travels on foot into the bush in times of ritual, meditation, change, grief or coming of age,” The Telegraph reported. According to the outlet, the switch is a gesture of respect towards Australia’s indigenous communities.

Instead, the palace will reportedly trade the phrase for an “opportunity to meet the public.”

Walkabouts are a key way for members of the royal family to directly connect with the public both at home and abroad, and originate organically when people come out to see members of the family. The late Queen Elizabeth is informally credited as the inventor of the walkabout, which originated when she decided to greet people on foot (instead of simply driving by car) during a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1970. Walkabouts were instantly a hit, and the royal family has employed them ever since.

On Easter earlier this year, King Charles took part in a surprise walkabout when he went to say hello to well-wishers outside St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The move was unexpected because the monarch sat apart from the rest of the royal family and other attendees during the church service as a precautionary measure amid his ongoing cancer treatment.