THE Prince of Wales’s five-day tour of Australia ended yesterday with claims that his visit, which saw some protests against his marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles, had put the republican cause back on the country’s agenda.

Protesters opposed to next month’s wedding cried “shame” and held up posters of the late Diana, Princess of Wales in Sydney. The visit, his first since 1994, also reopened debate over his future role as king of Australia.

Kim Beazley, the leader of the opposition Labour party, said minutes after meeting the prince that he would press ahead with moves to make Australia into a republic if he were elected in 2007.

One opinion poll showed that 53% of people would prefer a republic to having the prince as their constitutional head of state. Only 30% wanted him to reign over Australia and 17% were undecided.

The poll also found that 59% wanted Prince Charles to renounce the throne in favour of Prince William.

Allison Henry, director of the Australian Republican Movement, said the visit had boosted support for republicanism because many people had seen a “future king who they feel no affinity for”.

The tone for the trip was set by newspapers that portrayed Charles as a fogeyish eccentric or ignored him.

Malcolm Farr, a political columnist with Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, described the prince as “a goose” and Parker Bowles as his “bespoke bit-on-the-side”, adding: “It can only be hoped this visit will bring home to unconvinced Australians the sham of maintaining ties to the British monarchy.”

Bob Hawke, the former prime minister, said it was “inevitable” Australia would become a republic once the Queen’s reign ended. “I have great respect for the Queen, but I think it’s absurd to have the monarch of another country as our head of state,” he said.

The prince’s reception was not helped by intense media coverage of Princess Mary of Denmark, a former secretary from Tasmania, who toured Australia last week with her husband, Frederik, heir to the Danish throne.

Australians identified with “our Mary”, said Nicola Roxon, a columnist. “She knows us, she is one of us. The contrast (with Charles) could not be stronger.”

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