Large crowds gather outside church for King Charles royal visit as more than a dozen protesters rally

Protesters have gathered outside a Church in North Sydney ahead of the arrival of King Charles and Queen Camilla.

More than a dozen anti-monarchy demonstrators have been spotted, with a megaphone used to chant slogans while others held banners reading “Decolonise”, and signs saying “Empire built on genocide. Not our king”.

WATCH THE VIDEO: Protesters gather outside church for royal visit.

King Charles and Queen Camilla will attend a church service as they begin three days of official events in Australia after resting at a harbourside mansion to recover from their long flight.

The service at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney on Sunday marks the beginning of a carefully planned, whistlestop royal tour during which the pair will travel between the NSW capital and Canberra.

It is not the first time a royal visit from the King has prompted protests.

Australian barrister, David Kang, famously shot two blank shots from a starting pistol at the then Prince of Wales in 1994, in protest to the treatment of Cambodian asylum seekers.

King Charles has visited Australia 16 times, including two terms at a remote boarding campus of Geelong Grammar as a teenager, but this is the first trip since his coronation in 2022.

The itinerary, which was tightened after the King’s cancer diagnosis in February, will see the royal couple attend a range of events at iconic sites including the Australian War Memorial, federal parliament and the Sydney Opera House.

—With AAP