SYDNEY, Oct 18, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - King Charles on Friday begins a six-day tour of Australia, the realm where he was briefly schooled, shared a famous seaside kiss, and had a close shave with a would-be assassin.

It will be his 17th visit since he first arrived as a shy teenager in 1966 -- and his first tour Down Under as king.

Here are five things you may not know about Charles' time in Australia.

- 'Pommy' bashing -

Then-Prince Charles first visited Australia as a gawky 17-year-old, who was shipped away to the secluded alpine Timbertop school in regional Victoria.

A stark departure from his rigid education in Scotland, he would spend two terms chopping logs to make firewood and on gruelling hikes in the nearby woods.

"While I was here I had the Pommy bits bashed off me," he would later remark, also describing it as "by far the best part" of his education.

Media baron Rupert Murdoch is among the many well-heeled alumni to also study at Timbertop, while former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson worked there as an assistant.

- King of the surf -

Bachelor Charles stripped off and plunged into the surf during a royal tour that took him to Western Australia in 1979.

As the shirtless prince strode towards the shore, he was ambushed by a bikini-clad model who planted a kiss on his cheek.

The instantly iconic photo would help Charles shed his pretentious reputation, prompting some to speculate that it was staged by Buckingham Palace all along.

On an earlier tour, Charles would shun a wetsuit to surf at the world-famous Bondi Beach in Sydney.

"By gee, it's bloody cold," he said. "Reminds me of home."

- Mummy dearest -

During that same 1977 visit, Charles would grant a rare interview to music television show Countdown.

"I saw your mum in London," star interviewer Molly Meldrum would remark in a faux pas since immortalised in Australia's national film archive.
"Are you referring to Her Majesty the Queen?" came Charles's frosty reply.

- Doting on Diana -

Charles returned to Australia with wife Diana in 1983, drawing mobs of adoring fans eager to see the "people's princess" at landmarks like the Sydney Opera House.

On the couple's first royal tour together, Diana broke royal protocol by bringing baby William along.

Their dancefloor whirl at Sydney's Wentworth Hotel would inspire a touching scene in the hit show The Crown.

- Close shave -

Two bangs rang out as Charles rose to give a harbourside speech to a packed Sydney crowd in 1994.

As security wrestled the gunman to the ground, Charles was filmed somewhat nonchalantly fiddling with his cufflinks.

It would later emerge that the 23-year-old assailant was a human rights protester who had fired blank rounds in a mock assassination attempt staged to raise awareness for asylum seekers.