‘Merci’, says Duchess, after having ‘lovely’ henna work
For most tourists, it is a pretty souvenir from a trip to a new and vibrant culture they will never forget.
For the Duchess of Sussex, the henna ‘‘tattoo’’ painted gently on to her hand by Moroccan schoolgirls meant rather more.
The duchess, who visited a village in the foothills of Morocco’s High Atlas mountains with her husband yesterday, was decorated with a flower emblem on her left hand, in a gesture intended to honour her pregnancy and bring good luck to Baby Sussex.
It marked the start of a busy day for the Duke and Duchess, who spoke emphatically about the importance of girls’ education and tried to speak in their ‘‘high school’’ French. If it was a language competition, there was only one winner: the Duchess, who impressed schoolgirls with a stream of conversation.
The Duke, who was less bold in front of the cameras and asked only whether his young hosts could speak English, nevertheless made an impression, telling the children how heartening it was to see so many looking happy at school.
If the royal couple had missed one another while the duchess was at her New York baby shower, they more than made up for it with a public display of affection, holding hands and touching one another’s arms, backs and necks as they went along.
Arriving in Asni, they visited one of six girls’ boarding houses run by Education For All, a charity set up in 2008 to help combat a lack of education in rural areas of Morocco.
The duchess sat down with 17-year-old Samira Ouaadi, one of the boarders, to receive three delicate flowers painted in henna on her left hand.
‘‘How lovely,’’ ‘‘Merci’’.
Samira said: ‘‘It’s tradition for pregnant women in Morocco to she said. have a henna tattoo.
‘‘It’s like the plant of paradise so we use it to mark all major occasions.’’
After one concerned official asked if she wanted to wash it off immediately, the Duchess laughed and replied that it would soon dry.
Not for the first time, the Duchess’s pregnancy quickly became the theme of the day, with girls singing songs wishing peace for her baby.
Hearing about the progress made by the charity in convincing Moroccan families of the importance of educating their girls, the duchess told pupils: ‘‘What’s happening here and so many places all over the world with more girls getting an education, it changes the future and changes the future for everyone, not just the girls.’’
– Telegraph Group