Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla attend Sydney church on royal tour

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla attended a service at St Thomas' Anglican church with residents in North Sydney on Sunday, the first event of their Australia tour.

The royal couple was met by the Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel and children from the church's Sunday school who waved flags.

After the service, the Australian public will have the first opportunity to meet Charles and Camilla since they arrived in Sydney on Friday night.

Charles is making his inaugural visit to an overseas realm as sovereign, and his first major foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer.

He will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa after the six-day Australia tour.

Charles had made a significant personal donation to create a skills programme to tackle climate change and boost higher education in small island states, including the Pacific Islands, the Association of Commonwealth Universities said on Sunday.

"Throughout my life I have believed in the power of education to improve lives and unite communities across the Commonwealth and beyond," he said in a statement.

Mid-career professionals and civil servants will benefit from the fellowships, in a program that aims to retain talent in small island states and bolster resilience to the impacts of climate change such as rising sea levels.

(Reporting by Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Rod Nickel)