Comforting Joe part of royal mission
For one small Wellington schoolboy, meeting the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, proved a little too much.
The Duchess and Prince Harry visited Maranui Cafe yesterday morning, meeting with mental health workers and advocates to discuss the work they do.
On their way out, Markle stopped to greet young school children, from nearby Houghton Valley School. At the end of the line Joe Young, 5, was overcome with emotion when the Duchess approached him.
She kneeled down to his level and attempted to comfort him.
Houghton Bay school deputy principal Monica Mercury said the excitement was a little much for the 5-year-old. Markle told Young he was ‘‘really cute and really shy’’, she said.
‘‘I was trying to get Harry to shake hands with him.
‘‘Harry said: Don’t worry about it — he’s shy.’’
Also in the line were Florence Williams, 7, and Max Dash, 8.
They were thrilled to meet the royal couple, and even more thrilled to be on the news.
‘‘I imagined she [Markle] would be really pretty and kind.’’
Both were asked their names and age by the Duke and Duchess.
Max said: ‘‘I was actually feeling rather nervous, I feel happy that I talked.’’
The meet-and-greet with school children wasn’t prior planned. Teacher Michelle Pontifex organised the trip, saying the opportunity was too good to pass up. ‘‘It’s just an experience, it’s not every day they get to experience something like this in their neighbourhood.
‘‘What little girl and what little boy doesn’t want to see a princess and a prince.’’
After a final handshake with Lucia Kennedy, who chaperoned the pair through the cafe engagement, the couple then waved to the large crowd of fans ahead of their trip across Cook Strait to Abel Tasman National Park.