Queen Victoria Statue Defaced with Red Paint During King Charles' Royal Tour of Australia

Mar. 15, 2025

(Left) King Charles and Queen Camilla at Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia on Oct. 22, 2024; (Right) The Queen Victoria statue vandalized outside the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, Australia in Oct. 22, 2024 in footage from Sky News Australia.Photo:Chris Jackson/Getty; Sky News Australia/YouTube

Chris Jackson/Getty; Sky News Australia/YouTube

“About 5.30am today (Tuesday 22 October 2024), police were called to Queen Victoria Building, Market Street, Sydney CBD, following reports a statue had been vandalised,” a spokesperson for the New South Wales Police said in a statement to PEOPLE.

“Officers attached to Sydney City Police Area Command have established a crime scene and an investigation has commenced. As inquiries continue, anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000,” they said.

The Queen Victoria statue vandalized outside the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney, Australia in Oct. 22, 2024 in footage from Sky News Australia.Sky News Australia/YouTube

Sky News Australia/YouTube

The statue of the King’s great-great-great grandmother was defaced the day after an Australian lawmaker heckled the sovereign at the Australian Parliament in Canberra.

The effigy of the lateQueen Elizabeth’s ancestor was first installed in Dublin in 1908 as “Ireland’s principal memorial to her” to honor the jubilees of her reign, according to theDictionary of Sydneyfrom the State Library of New South Wales.

In 1922, it was removed from Leinster House when the Irish Free State made it the hub of the Irish Legislature as Ireland broke away from the British crown. Years later, the statue was transported to Sydney and unveiled there in 1987.

“The last royal statue to be raised in Ireland is also the last royal statue to be erected in Australia,” the dictionary entry noted.

The vandalism took place on the fifth day of King Charles andQueen Camilla’s royal tour of Australia and Samoa, a milestone as it’s their first tour to Commonwealth realms since Charles became King, and their longest journey abroad since Buckingham Palace revealed the monarch’sdiagnosed with cancer. Despite the incident, the royals remained in high spirits during their appearances in Sydney on Oct. 22, where King Charles visited the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence and theMelanoma Institute Australia, the world’s leading facility for melanoma research and treatment.

The royal couple’s ninth stop of the day took them to the iconic Sydney Opera House, just over a mile from the Queen Victoria Building, where they connected with the gathered crowd of well-wishers.

King Charles waves to the public at Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia on Oct. 22, 2024.Dean Lewins - Pool/Getty

Dean Lewins - Pool/Getty

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Lidia Thorpe disrupts proceedings at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Oct. 21, 2024.Lukas Coch-Pool/Getty

Lukas Coch-Pool/Getty

“You destroyed our land, give us a treaty—we want a treaty, we want a treaty with this country,” said Thorpe.

The sovereign reportedly didn’t react to the outcry, and Buckingham Palace had no comment on the protest.

Queen Camilla and King Charles at Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Oct. 21, 2024.Victoria Jones - Pool/Getty

Victoria Jones - Pool/Getty

King Charles, 75, hasreportedly maintainedthat “whether Australia becomes a republic is… a matter for the Australian public to decide.” His aides have said it is up to the people of any of the states where he is King to determine their own destiny around the crown.

source: people.com