Specter of royal meddling haunts Charles in Australia

The cloud from a decades-old political crisis hangs over King Charles III's tour of Australia, where the 1975 sacking of a sitting prime minister continues to fuel suspicions of royal meddling.

Governor-General John Kerr used his vice-regal powers in 1975 to topple Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, a popular leader beset by a string of parliamentary scandals.

It remains the only time the governor-general -- the throne's envoy in overseas realms -- has made such a drastic intervention in Australian democracy.