Ardern gets a ride to New York with Trudeau
NEW YORK: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has arrived in New York City for several days of whirlwind diplomacy at the United Nations.
She reached New York from London thanks to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who allowed Ms Ardern to hitch a ride on his plane.
Both leaders were in London for the late Queen’s funeral.
Ms Ardern is not the only New Zealander to benefit from the generosity of a foreign government. Her partner, Clarke Gayford, will travel as far as Australia on Australia’s official plane, the guest of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Ms Ardern was one of a number of world leaders who made their way to New York from London after attending the funeral.
The United Nations hosts ‘‘highlevel week’’ about this time every year, when leaders from UN countries gather for a week of rapid diplomacy.
About 150 leaders are expected to attend this year, which marks the first ‘‘inperson’’ highlevel week since the Covid19 pandemic.
The funeral threw the UN into chaos, as representatives from nearly 200 countries hastily rearranged schedules around it.
The funeral has also changed the tenor of Ms Ardern’s time in New York, which ends on Saturday.
She typically schedules lighthearted tourism promotion while in the city — an appearance on Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, for example.
All of that has been cancelled out of respect for the Queen.
The big draw of the UN is having so many world leaders under one roof.
Arranging leadertoleader bilateral meetings can be difficult, but it is possible to bump into a leader in the corridors and duck into a meeting room for some rapid diplomacy.
Covid protocols at the UN building mean there is likely to be less of that this year, compared with previous years.
Ms Ardern appears unlikely to secure a rare meeting with US President Joe Biden, although this was expected, given she has already visited him in Washington this year.
She also missed the opportunity to help Air New Zealand promote its new direct flight between Auckland and New York.
Her focus in New York is expected to be on climate change, mis and disinformation, and online extremism.
The centrepiece of her programme is a Christchurch Call summit, which she will jointly host with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The summit will check progress made to get governments and tech companies to cooperate over efforts to root out online extremism.
Ms Ardern said before leaving London the call was ‘‘making really good progress’’.
She will also be filling in for Prince William at an Earthshot Prize event.
Earthshot is a charity effort the prince founded to award grants to people who have innovative ideas for saving the planet.
Ms Ardern will also appear on a panel discussing leadership in a pandemic. That panel will be chaired by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and feature Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was president of Liberia during the Ebola crisis.
She will also deliver New Zealand’s statement to the UN General Assembly, which is a short speech highlighting topics she thinks are important to the international community this year.
Ms Ardern said the statement would focus on ‘‘what is top of mind’’ for the country.
She said ‘‘nuclear disarmament’’ was also a big issue and she would also focus on ‘‘food security and the pandemic’’. —
WINDSOR: The Royal Family is observing another week of mourning for the Queen after a state funeral full of emotion and ceremony under the gaze of the world.
King Charles III decreed on September 9, the day after the Queen died following her 70year reign, that a period of mourning would be observed until seven days after the funeral.
Buckingham Palace said: ‘‘Royal mourning will be observed by members of the Royal Family, Royal Household staff and representatives of the Royal Household on official duties, together with troops committed to ceremonial duties.’’
The family members will not carry out official engagements and flags at royal residences will remain at halfmast until 8am after the final day of royal mourning.
The family has been left bereft by the death of their mother, grandmother and greatgrandmother, and at times their grief was palpable with the King looking emotional and close to tears at the state funeral.
He and his family have been consoled by support from the public, including the tens of thousands who watched the late monarch’s funeral procession to Windsor Castle for the committal service.
The Queen was laid to rest with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh during a private evening burial service attended by close family.
The family’s website said it was conducted by the Dean of Windsor, adding: ‘‘The Queen was buried together with The Duke of Edinburgh, at The King George VI Memorial Chapel.’’
The royal Twitter account published a picture of the Queen taken at Balmoral in 1971, with the words: ‘‘May flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest. In loving memory of Her Majesty The Queen.’’
The quote is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
The words are said by Horatio as he pays tribute to his dying friend Hamlet in the tragedy.
The wreath adorning the Queen’s coffin featuring a handwritten note from the King, saying: ‘‘In loving and devoted memory. Charles R.’’
The simple committal service at St George’s Chapel was heavy with symbolism, with the Camp Colour from the military unit personally commanded by the Queen — Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards — placed on her coffin by the King.
Baron Parker — the Lord Chamberlain and a former MI5 chief, and the most senior official in her royal household — ‘‘broke’’ his wand of office by dismantling it into two halves and laying them on her coffin.
As the committal service drew to a close the sovereign’s piper, Pipe Major Paul Burns played a lament and walked away from the congregation, his tune fading into the chapel air. — BPA