Fantastic photos: Australia through the eyes of royal visitors

Australia has been one of the favourite travel destinations for royal families. The late Queen Elizabeth visited the country 16 times.

The last visit of the Queen was in 2011. Here we see her meeting the crowds in Sydney in 2006

Other royal visitors have included, of course, the prince and princess of Wales.

When they were still the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton also visited Australia.

Their most recent visit was in 2014. It included stops in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Uluru, and Adelaide.

His brother, Prince Harry, is also very fond of Australia. With his wife, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, he toured the country in 2018.

Every trip to the Great Southern Land is different. The royals visit museums, sports events, natural landmarks, or special events like this surf gathering on the beach to raise awareness about mental health.

And every royal delegation is different. Here's King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands saying 'cheese' in front of the Sydney Opera House.

The Danish Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, the Australian-born Princess Mary, often come to visit. They bring their twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent...

... or the older siblings, Christian and Isabella.

Crown Princess Victoria, of Denmark's neighbour Sweden, also tours Australia.

The Japanese Emperor Naruhito and his wife Masako came to Australia in 2002 when they were still Crown Prince and Princess.

Charles, now the King but previously traveling as the Prince of Wales, socializes with the Australian public, for example during a visit to Canberra in 2012.

Charles brought with him the then-Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla.

In 1954, Elizabeth II was the first reigning monarch of Australia to visit the continent. She visited all capitals except Darwin, traversing 10,000 miles by air and 2,000 by car. The young Queen made her own film during the visit.

In Cairns, Queensland, a guard of honour consisting of Torres Strait Islanders received her.

Among the many royal visitors was of course also Diana, Princess of Wales. She was known to engage with the public on any occasion.

Her son Harry inherited that quality from his beloved mother. Scenes like this one in Dubbo, New South Wales, attest to that.

To meet all these interesting Australians, royal visitors fly many miles across the country.

They visit places like this lookout, the Narrow Neck in the Blue Mountains Town of Katoomba, west of Sydney.

In 2014, Prince William and Kate Middleton visited Echo Point in Katoomba.

A year later, William's father Prince Charles posed for photographs at the Mt Adelaide lookout in Albany.

Australia's coastline is known across the world for its beauty and, in some places, its excellent surf.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visited Fraser Island during their 2018 tour of Australia. It is one of the most beautiful islands in the world.

On Fraser Island, Prince Harry met the Butchulla people. They are the traditional owners of the island, which they call K'gari.

The wonders of the Australian coastline include the Twelve Apostles rock formations in the state of Victoria.

Camilla Parker Bowles enjoyed a barefoot walk on the beach. This one lies near the City of Gold Coast, in Queensland.

An encounter with Australian wildlife is often part of the royals' visits to the Great Southern Land. Princess Mary and Prince Frederik of Denmark went to the government house park 'Yarralumla' in Canberra.

Their son, Prince Christian, was introduced to the lizards of Bonorong Park during the family's private Australian trip in 2006.

A young Prince Harry did the same in 2003 when he visited Sydney at the beginning of a three-month stay in Australia.

The 19-year-old prince came to work at a cattle ranch in the Outback as an Australian cowboy - a jackaroo.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden cuddled a wombat during her visit to Sanctuary Healesville Wildpark in 2005.

Kate Middleton thought a carved wooden snake was real enough, as she visited a cultural centre in Uluru.

For William and Kate's son, Prince George, there was a stuffed bilby in Taronga Zoo, Sydney.

Cattle and sheep farming are an important part of Australia's landscape and economy. Then-prince Charles got a close look at this branch during a visit to the Leenavale Sheep Stud in Sorell, Tasmania.

47.63 percent of Australian land is farmland, the World Bank reported in 2015. Cattle are most important: after Brazil, Australia is the second-largest beef exporter in the world. But sheep are important, too: the government reports that it accounts for 7 percent of Australian agricultural production.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were put to work at the Mountain View Farm in Dubbo, New South Wales.

William and Catherine had a look at the 2014 Royal Easter Show in Sydney.

Australian wines are renowned across the globe. The country has 3,230 wine farms and produced 1.6 million tonnes of grapes in 2015-2016, as reported by the government. Prince Charles and Camilla went to inspect wine barrels in Seppeltsfield Winery in the Barossa Valley in 2015.

Given the importance of agriculture in Australia, it is not surprising that the agricultural Easter Show in Sydney is a popular, long-standing tradition. The first Easter Show was held in 1823.

King Charles has sported the characteristic Australian headpiece: the Akubra hat.

While William has worn an Akubra hat just like his father and other royal visitors, the army gave him a slightly different model.

But here we have a somewhat different headpiece... It's Prince Charles wearing the traditional gear of the Yolngu people in the remote region of North-East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

Prince Charles participated in a traditional ceremony at Mt Nhulun, an important sacred site for the Yolngu people. ABC reported that this ceremony had not been performed since the 1960s and that the prince was "the first non-Indigenous person to be acknowledged as part of it."

In 2000, Queen Elizabeth visited the Muda Aboriginal Language and Cultural Centre in Bourke, where the Ngemba Muranari danced for her.

The Outback is often part of a royal grand tour of Australia.

In 2006, then-prince Willem Alexander and princess Maxima of The Netherlands visited the Uluru - also known as 'Ayers Rock.'

The Swedish Queen Silvia also went to see the famous orange rock formations of Australia's Northern Territory. She talked with aboriginal elder Reggie Uluru at Walpa Gauge, Katu Tjuta, about 300 kilometers from Alice Springs.

Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a sacred site for the Pitjantjatjara Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the region. The sandstone formation changes colours at different times of the day and year.

Kate Middleton met with the local Aboriginal people when she and Prince William visited Uluru in 2014.

The famous illumination of the rock at sunset made for beautiful photographs of Prince William and Kate Middleton's visit.

When Maxima of The Netherlands visited the Art Gallery of New South Wales in 2006, she paid special attention to The Aboriginal Print Portfolio, which commemorated 400 years of Dutch-Australian relations.

In 2016, King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima toured the WA Museum Shipwreck Galleries in Fremantle. The museum is devoted to Dutch exploratory travel.

Princess Mary of Denmark was also invited to check out Australian inventions. In 2008, she visited the Victor Chang Research Centre in Sydney.

The Ian Potter Museum of Art at the University of Melbourn contains Aboriginal works of art. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden went to see them in 2005.

Princess Mary of Denmark, formerly known as the 'commoner' Mary Donaldson from Hobart, Australia, went to see a painting of herself at the Portrait Gallery in Canberra.

The late Queen Elizabeth visited the Sovereign Hill complex in Ballarat. It is a replica of a 19th-century mining community where visitors can even pan for gold.

The Melbourne Cup in Perth had some remarkable visitors in 2016. Queen Maxima and King Willem Alexander of the Netherlands went to see the horse race on the Ascot Racecourse.

The course is considered a 'grand old lady' among the Australian racecourses.

A royal tour of Australia inevitably passes through Sydney, with its iconic Opera House.

Prince William in front of the famous building in 2010.

Prince Frederik and Princess Mary of Denmark visited the Sydney Opera House during their state visit in 2005.

The Danish community in Australia held a reception for Princess Mary and Frederik at the Opera House.

Melbourne has its legendary theatre as well. Princess Victoria of Sweden went to see the musical 'Mamma Mia' there. It was a celebration of both Swedish (Abba) and Australian culture.

Official visits include photo-ops like this one, of Prince Frederik and Princess Mary on the roof of the parliament in Canberra.

Formal travel is always accompanied by guards of honor. Here, the late Queen Elizabeth was escorted to view such a ceremony at Fairbairn airforce base in Canberra.

Less formal are the royals' meetings with the public. William and Kate met with schoolchildren in Echo Point, Katoomba, in 2014.

Prince William was not yet a father in this photo (2010), but he knew instinctively how to entertain the children in Sydney's Redfern Community Centre.

Prince Harry had fun with the kids of Canberra, who believe that redheads are the best people.

The year is 2015, and besides laughing with the kids, Prince Harry also tends to a more serious matter: He places a poppy at the Roll of Honour in the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of The Netherlands did not skip the War Memorial either. This is them outside the Roll of Honour in 2016.

This national memorial to the members of the armed forces who fought in wars defending the Commonwealth of Australia was founded in 1941. Placing a poppy flower in the Roll of Honour's panel is a way to pay tribute to a particular soldier whose name is inscribed on the wall.

The wall of remembrance is devoted to the veterans of the World Wars. The poppy flower is associated with Armistice Day, the end of World War I in November 1918. Prince William and Kate Middleton went to place poppy flowers into the wall on Anzac Day, the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, on April 25.

The King of Norway, Harald V, also visited the Australian War Memorial with his wife, Queen Sonja. Few images of the Norwegian royals' 2015 visit to Australia have been published, but this event was important enough to show to the world.

Prince Philippe of Belgium paid tribute to the fallen soldiers, inscribed in the Roll of Honour wall, in 2012.

Belgium was the terrain of the Great War. Many of its citizens fled to The Netherlands. To European royalty, the war memorial is of special relevance.

Who's next in line to visit Australia? There are still many places to explore Down Under.