Topless dancers greet Charles
2005-03-02 12:48
Sydney - Britain's Prince Charles was on Wednesday greeted by a bevy of topless Aboriginal dancers and urged to at least make a token appearance at a bachelor party thrown in his honour in the quintessentially Australian Outback town of Alice Springs.
"We are welcoming him into our country so that he can have safe travel in Australia," dance troupe leader Alison Anderson said. "The dance is wishing him happiness in the future."
Prince Charles is on a week-long tour of Australia, one of his last royal assignments before marriage to long-time companion Camilla Parker Bowles in April.
In Alice Springs he was encouraged to counter the 38-degree midday heat by drinking a few beers at a buck's night arranged for him by local councillor Ernie Nicholls at the cowboy-saloon-style Bojangles pub.
A red carpet has been borrowed from the Town Hall, invitations have been printed and a band engaged for what was set to be a riotous evening.
"It's a distinct possibility that he will come," Nicholls said. "Think what that would do for Charlie's image in the UK because at the moment he's on a roller-coaster ride downhill at a million miles an hour."
Nicholls promised there would be "no funny stuff, no strippers, no shaving cream" at a traditional pre-nuptials send-off for the man who would be king of Australia.
Prince Charles will travel from Alice Springs to Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. From Australia it's a trip to New Zealand before completing a sweep through the region in Fiji. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA