A hug and a grab for being so fab
Pair’s arrival in rural city provokes chin reaction in wee fan
Prince Harry had an especially touching moment with a young fan who was out to greet the royals in Dubbo, Australia yesterday.
Cameras snapped the sweet moment Harry bent down to give Luke Vincent, 5, a big hug.
After the embrace, Luke, a Buninyong Public School student, reached out and grabbed Harry’s beard at the chin, clearly fascinated by his facial hair.
Harry was in no rush to leave as the boy kept touching his face, displaying the patience and kindness he shows to all his fans.
Despite running behind schedule, Meghan and Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, were in no rush, stopping to chat with all the eager schoolchildren.
Royal flying doctor service
The royal couple were in Dubbo for the second day of their first royal overseas tour.
Harry and Meghan thrilled a cheering crowd at the Royal Flying Doctor Service at Dubbo Airport, with the Duchess of Sussex tenderly exchanging flowers with a young girl whose life had been saved.
When Keiley Storer, 3, shyly handed over a posy of gerberas and daisies, Meghan said, “Would you like one back?”, and returned a white flower.
Meghan then asked the little girl, “Would you like the big pink one?” and Keiley began to cry, saying, “Oh no, my posy”.
Keiley’s father is RFDS patient transfer officer Christopher Storer. Her mother, Melissa Storer, said she told the Duchess about the serious larynx problem that had sent Keiley into cardiac arrest aged 8 weeks.
She said the royal couple were “very laid back . . . I didn’t even have to think about curtseying”.
Little Keiley was one of three country patients among a crowd of around 100 staff, patients and RFDS volunteers gathered in the service’s airport hangar to meet the royal couple.
Courtney Sheil, 15, was on her cousin’s sheep station outside Tilpa, 700km northwest of Dubbo when she fell off her motorbike and hit her head.
“[Meghan and Harry] were really glad I was okay,” Courtney said later, saying the couple were “very nice”.
“They were amazing . . . and she was even more stunning in person.” Yesterday’s trip marked the sixth visit to Dubbo by royalty.
Why were the royals visiting Dubbo?
One of the main reasons Meghan and Harry were visiting Dubbo was to raise awareness for the drought, which has been plaguing farmers. But there’s also a historical reason. The regional city, 400km northwest of Sydney, includes Taronga Western Plains Zoo, the famous local observatory, the old gaol and more cafes serving freshlybrewed tea than you can count.
But a century ago, it was a very different story. Dubbo was a shanty town called Tin Town, deemed so unsightly that its townspeople tried to hide it from travellers, according to the ABC.
The royals helped to change that. In 1920, Edward, Prince of Wales, was the first to travel to the rural city to thank the communities of those who served in the Great War.
Then in 1954, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the town, bringing tourists a-flocking; the town only had a population of 11,000 by then, but 50,000 people rocked up to see them.
According to local paper the Daily Liberal, the first visit by a reigning monarch triggered an outpouring of patriotism the town had never seen.
“God Save the Queen was played at the pictures prior to the screening of the movie and everyone stood up and sang it. There was God and then the Queen — that’s how it was in those days,” one resident said.
The last royal visit was in 2006, when Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, visited the town to acknowledge the work of local indigenous students involved in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards programme.
The bush town was so afroth with royal fever ahead of Meghan and Harry’s flying visit it produced its own royal beer.
Called “Dubbo Royale” and bottled in a red, white and blue can, it is a British-style lager combined with “fruity” US West Coast hops “for the Meghan component”.
Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields said the forthcoming visit was “huge” for Dubbo.
“It was big anyway because Harry and Meghan are one of the most popular royal couples,” he said. “And then we heard . . . about the little Sussex. That’s just the icing on the cake.”