It was the beginning of a love story between the future King Charles and one of the most emblematic beaches of his kingdom, Bondi.
When he was 17, Prince Charles first appeared on the golden sands of Sydney’s Bondi Beach on a wintry day in late May 1966.
A gale was blowing and even the prince told the 16 lifeguards from the North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club who formed an honor guard to welcome him that they must be freezing in their swimsuits.
Charles watched a demonstration of surfing techniques, chatted with lifeguard Jim Turney and was greeted with a march by club members, all organized by Kerwin Maegraith.
Maegraith, a life member of North Bondi and a newspaper cartoonist with connections to the royal family, had been negotiating the visit for months while Charles was attending school in Australia.
Charles would later describe his time at Geelong Church of England Grammar School, on its Timbertop campus, as the happiest and most formative of his education.
Prince Charles, 17, visited Bondi Beach for the first time and enjoyed a relaxed visit which ended with him being given a traditional surf lifeguard patrol cap to wear.
On Bondi Beach in 1966, Kerwin Maegraith tied a North Bondi surf cap to Charles’s head, risking royal protocol, but the schoolboy prince took it in good humour.
After the imposing Gordonstoun school in Scotland, which he nicknamed ‘Colditz in kilts’ after being bullied there, Charles enjoyed the camaraderie and shared sense of humor with his Australian schoolmates.
That day in Bondi, Maegraith injected warmth into the occasion by tying the prince a North Bondi lifeguard surf cap.
Colorful patrol caps are a mandatory part of the surf lifeguard’s uniform so they are easily distinguishable in the waves, but tying one to the head of a future king risked royal protocol, especially almost 60 years ago.
Maegraith’s grandson David told Daily Mail Australia that the “coronation” of the future king by his larrikin grandfather “reflected the relaxed Australian spirit”, and Charles took it with the good humor with which it was intended.
Schoolchildren harass Charles in Bondi on a cold day in May 1966, when the 17-year-old prince made his first visit to the iconic Sydney beach during his stay in Australia.
Charles enjoys a dip in the waves at Bondi Beach during his 1981 tour of Australia.
“The moment positioned the club as a cultural bridge between Australia and the monarchy, blending two traditions: life-saving Australian surfing and the British monarchy’s deepening relationship with the country,” Mr Maegraith’s son said.
In Bondi, Charles spent a couple of hours on the beach, got his feet wet, was harassed by a group of schoolchildren and caught a plane back to Timbertop, where he was sent off a month later with an enthusiastic “Three cheers… for the pommie.” bastard’.
The visit foreshadowed his future returns to Bondi Beach over the decades leading up to his eventual coronation.
In 1974, Charles enjoyed the first of many swims at Bondi Beach and revisited Geelong Grammar.
Charles tried his hand at surfing in Bondi in 1977 during an extensive tour of Australia on behalf of the Queen during her Silver Jubilee celebrations.
In 1981, three months before marrying Princess Diana, he returned again and took a dip with his bodyguard, John McClean.
Charles has returned to Bondi several times. On his Diamond Jubilee Tour in 2012, he walked the sand in a suit rather than taking a dip, and watched an NRL community football exhibition match on the beach.
Prince Charles runs through the waves in Bondi while taking time off during his official tour of Australia in 1981, three months before his marriage to Princess Diana.
Joke cartoon by Kerwin Maegraith about ‘crowning’ Prince Charles with a surf lifeguard patrol cap
Bondi Beach was one of her son Prince Harry’s first stops on his 2018 tour with new girlfriend Meghan.
On this long-awaited 17th trip to Australia, his first as monarch, King Charles has events in Sydney and Canberra, including a barbecue in Western Sydney and a naval fleet review in Sydney Harbour.
After flying to Sydney on Friday night, King Charles and Queen Camilla designated Saturday as a day of personal rest, taking into account their health following cancer treatment.
Will they go to Bondi for an ice cream and a dip? The royal couple are honorary life members of the Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club.
Club president Liz Webb told Daily Mail Australia: “Bondi Surf Club would love to welcome King Charles back to Bondi Surf Club on his trip to Australia, and we would also love to welcome Queen Camilla for first time.”
“Our Bondi Surf Club has a rich history of welcoming royalty and it would be a great honor for our members and our Board to host them both.”
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