As she was escorted from the chamber by security, she could be heard saying ‘F*** the colony’.

Former prime minister and staunch royalist Tony Abbott, who was also at the event, expressed his dismay at the protest, labelling it ‘unfortunate political exhibitionism’.

The senator, who refused to swear an oath to the Queen upon being elected, was one of around 20 people protesting the King’s arrival as he laid a wreath at a war memorial in Canberra earlier in the day.

Upon arrival, Charles and Camilla were greeted by Aunty Serena Williams from the Ngunnawal people, who urged the King to apologise for colonial atrocities.

She told reporters: ‘We all have roles and responsibilities, and I have roles and responsibilities to my people. And I think an apology would be beautiful.’

When pressed on whether the King should personally say sorry, she said: ‘Yes. Because we have to acknowledge our past.’

Charles acknowledged the remarks during his speech in parliament and said he ‘offered to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the land on which we meet’, but stopped short of formally apologising.

Who is Lidia Thorpe?

Ms Thorpe was elected in 2017 and sits as an independent in the upper house of the Australian parliament.

After refusing to swear allegiance to the Queen upon being elected, she was later compelled to repeat the oath of allegiance in 2022 after initially describing the late monarch as a ‘coloniser’.

In a statement ahead of the King’s visit, she said: ‘As First Peoples, we never ceded our Sovereignty over this land. The Crown invaded this country, has not sought treaty with First Peoples, and committed a Genocide of our people. King Charles is not the legitimate Sovereign of these lands.

‘Any move towards a republic must not continue this injustice. Treaty must play a central role in establishing an independent nation. A republic without a Treaty must not happen.’