King Charles and Queen Camilla could be heading back to Australia — and the occasion is a big one.
The King has been invited to the MCG to celebrate 150 years of Test cricket, following in the footsteps of his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, who attended the Centenary Test at the same ground back in 1977.
The historic match takes place in March 2027 and will feature the first-ever day-night Test at the MCG, played under lights with a pink ball.
Demand for tickets has been extraordinary, with more than 125,000 tickets already sold, and Cricket Australia has been forced to introduce a ballot system for the first time ever.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever put a ballot in place for tickets to a Test match here in this country. The outcome of that has just been an explosion of interest in the event,” Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said.
“Effectively, we’ll have a full house across the first three days, almost a year out from the event.”
The guest list reads like a who’s who of cricket royalty — every living player from the 1977 Centenary Test, all living captains of Australia and England, and every available member of the ICC Hall of Fame have all been invited.
And it seems the King is already getting into the spirit.
Just this week, cricket legend Sir Viv Richards gifted King Charles a cricket bat at the annual Commonwealth Day reception at St James’s Palace in London.
Charles, who is no stranger to the game, joked to retired Antiguan cricketer Sir Viv that the gift brought back memories of his time serving in the Royal Navy from 1971-76.
“It reminds me of my attempts when I was in the Navy. We were playing cricket in each of those islands… it nearly killed me,” he quipped.
Charles and Camilla last visited Australia in October 2024, which was his first tour as King, taking in Sydney and Canberra.
The news comes after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they will visit Australia in April.
The royal couple will spend time in Sydney and Melbourne during their visit.
On the weekend of April 17-19, Meghan will be in Sydney to attend a “girls’ weekend like no other” with Jackie O Henderson and Gemma O’Neill’s Her Best Life podcast.
“I am beside myself about this,” Gemma announced on the podcast this week.
“I have admired this woman and what she has endured, how she’s risen above it, and how she has demonstrated how a woman can be pushed down, and she can still rise.”
“That person is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. I can’t believe I am saying those words,” she continued.
“There is no one more shocked than me.”
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