Lidia Thorpe has revealed she only resorted to verbally abusing King Charles – shouting ‘f*** the colony’ – because he ignored her many requests for a private meeting over cake and tea.
Senator Thorpe, the leader of Australia’s Blak Sovereign Movement, made global headlines on Monday when she interrupted a reception for King Charles and Queen Camilla at Parliament House in Canberra to yell at the visiting royals.
Draped in a possum fur cloak, the Victorian senator walked down the aisle of the Great Hall shouting: ‘Give us our land back. Give us what you stole from us. Our bones, our skulls, our babies, our people. You destroyed our land. Give us a treaty.’
As security guards began to drag her away, she continued to shout: ‘This is not your land. You are not my King.’
King Charles ignored the senator, turning to Queen Camilla and speaking to her until the interruption was over.
Ms Thorpe addressed the situation on Thursday in a television interview, explaining that she had written a number of letters to the King over the last few years, requesting meetings.
Having had no reply, she resorted to public confrontation.
Daily Mail Australia has now obtained a private letter Senator Thorpe sent to King Charles in March 2023, before his Coronation.
Laura Jayes is pictured, left, during an interview with Lidia Thorpe, right
Pictured: A letter Lidia Thorpe wrote to King Charles in 2023, before his Coronation
She wrote: ‘Over 200 years ago, a war was declared on my people, and the First Nations people of this country, through the invasion of our lands. We didn’t have firearms and armies to counter your ancestors’ invasion.
‘Ever since then, our people have been feeling the impact of the diseases brought to our land, the dispossession, the displacement and the cultural disconnection forced upon us.’
Sen Thorpe said Indigenous people ‘yearn for peace’ and proposed a treaty akin to those made by the British crown with the First Nations people of Canada and New Zealand.
‘Treaty can provide a path forward on how to address past injustices, and pave the way for a brighter future through addressing the systemic causes of the inequalities we continue to face today,’ she continued.
‘Sir, in light of your commitment to decolonisation, I respectfully request a meeting with you in person, if possible before your majesty’s coronation, to discuss the possibility of the Crown entering into a treaty with Australia’s First Nations people.’
The letter was one of many Senator Thorpe said she sent Buckingham Palace. She has never received a response.
Senator Lidia Thorpe, 51, launched a foul-mouthed tirade at the King during his visit to Parliament House
Her tirade came during King Charles III’s first visit to Australia as monarch
When asked why she interrupted the reception for King Charles on Monday, Ms Thorpe said she wanted to being international awareness to Indigenous Australians.
‘We are the oldest continuing living culture on the planet and we’re the most incarcerated, 24,000 Aboriginal children have been taken from their families, so I wanted to highlight the injustices that are going on in this country,’ Sen Thorpe told Sky News.
‘I wanted to sit down with the King and have a cup of tea and have cake with him,’ she said.
‘I sent him numerous letters – even before he announced coming here, I was sending him letters saying, “can we meet? I want to talk to you about a treaty. Why didn’t your kingdom treaty with us?”.’
She said the treaty was not about displacing non-Aboriginal Australians, or ‘taking your backyard’.
There was also a heated exchange when host Laura Jayes inferred the senator made a swipe at her for painting her as an ‘aggressive black woman’.
Ms Jayes said: ‘I appreciate you coming on, I did note the veiled criticism perhaps directed at me just there … You saying that I’m painting you as an aggressive black woman and I wouldn’t do that to other women.’
‘I don’t agree with that, that wasn’t my intention. That you’re a woman and that you’re black has nothing to do with how I characterise your protest or the treatment of the King – do you accept that?’
Ms Thorpe replied: ‘Yes, and it wasn’t aimed at you so sorry if you took offence.’
Ms Jayes said: ‘Oh no, I didn’t.’
The senator continued: ‘It was in general.’
Ms Jayes asked the senator to explain why she thought she was targeted by the media, and by her fellow parliamentarians.
‘I’m loud, I’m proud,’ said Ms Thorpe. ‘I’m the oldest of 150 cousins, I’ve had to be loud and that’s just who I am.
‘I’m sorry if you feel aggrieved with how I speak, but I’m there for good, I’m not there to divide this country.
‘I get to have a say on a lot of things in parliament, but they shut me down from having that say and so I get loud to be heard.’
In the days following her outburst, Ms Thorpe claimed the ‘bones and skulls’ of Aboriginal people are still in the Royal Family’s possession.
Buckingham Palace refused to comment on Senator Thorpe’s outburst.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk