Britain's Prince Charles toured Australia's Outback where topless Aboriginal women danced for him yesterday while fellow countryman and rocker Ozzy Osbourne sent his congratulations from Sydney on the prince's wedding plans.
Charles was in Alice Springs during a five-day whirlwind tour of Australia that has been overshadowed by scrutiny of his coming marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles, which has fazed some observers because their romance began before the late Princess Diana died.
Osbourne, rock and roll's self-proclaimed "Prince of Darkness", weighed in on the issue while in Australia's biggest city to host the first MTV Australia Video Music Awards, calling the prince a "mate" and saying he should be allowed to marry Parker Bowles in peace.
"It's his business you know. His first wife got killed so what's he expected to do, be single for the rest of his life? If he likes her and she likes him or whatever, good luck on them," the former Black Sabbath lead singer told reporters in Sydney.
For his trip to the arid Outback town of Alice Springs, Charles wore a jacket and tie in the desert heat as he stepped off an Australian air force jet.
Six Aboriginal women with their bodies painted in ochre welcomed the prince with a traditional dance called Tjukurra Palya.
The women had travelled from Papunya, a community of 370 Aborigines 230 kilometres west of Alice Springs.
"We're wishing him happiness in the future, and wherever he goes in Australia we're wishing him well," said their leader, Alison Anderson.
