Outspoken Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe, who previously confronted the King during his visit to Australia, has made a strong statement to the monarch outside the gates of the Palace
An outspoken Australian senator has made a rude gesture and strong anti-monarch statement towards King Charles while standing outside the gates of Buckingham Palace.
Lidia Thorpe, who previously confronted the King during his tour of Australia last year, took photos while giving the middle finger to the Palace as she wrapped herself in the Aboriginal flag.
The Indigenous politician first made international headlines in October 2024 during King Charles’ visit to the Australian capital city of Canberra, when she interrupted Charles and Camilla’s trip to Parliament House to protest their trip to the country with a series of anti-monarchist remarks.
And while in London this week for a conference, Senator Thorpe stopped by Buckingham Palace, sporting a shirt that read “Blak Sovereign Movement”, to hold up the Aboriginal flag at the gates.
She posed for a photograph making a rude gesture with her middle finger to the royal residence, which she shared on social media with the caption: “Dropped by to collect all the stuff this lot stole, but Charlie wasn’t in.”
Thorpe’s actions divided many Australians online, with many saying that they do not share her anti-monarchist views, while others praised her outspokenness.
Following Senator Thorpe’s actions in Canberra last year, she was censured by the Australian parliament last November, with a motion passed by 46 votes to 12. It condemned her actions as “disruptive and disrespectful”, but there were no further constitutional ramifications.
Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said Ms Thorpe’s behaviour was not of the standard “Australians rightly expect of parliamentarians”.
Despite the censure motion passing, Thorpe said she “did not give a damn”, and would continue to be outspoken on her anti-monarchist views.
In an interview with Australian public broadcaster ABC, she said: “If the colonising King were to come to my country again, our country, then I’ll do it again. And I will keep doing it. I will resist colonisation in this country. I swear my allegiance to the real sovereigns of these lands: First Peoples are the real sovereigns.”
Moments before her protest, the King had delivered a speech in which he paid his “respects to the traditional owners” of Australia, as is tradition before major events. The King later said he was “unruffled” by the protest and determined not to let it spoil a “wonderful day”.
Senator Thorpe was sworn in as a senator for the Greens party in the state of Victoria in 2022, during which she described the queen as a “coloniser” before being told to recite the oath as printed on the card.
