Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Meghan gets the giggles
Duchess’ tears of laughter as lads do mosquito song & dance
MEGHAN Markle got such a buzz out of kids singing about mosquitoes while flapping their arms that she could not stop laughing.
The Duchess of Sussex seemed to be trying to suppress her fit of the giggles as she and Prince Harry were serenaded by the boys in Tonga.
Meghan wiped away tears of laughter as the secondary school choir performed flying actions and made buzzing noises.
A source said the aim of the song was to “frighten off any mozzies”.
Harry also looked a little awkward while he chuckled too, but the pair need not have worried if they feared they were meant to be keeping a straight face.
The choir – in smart white uniforms – had broad smiles and revelled in the royals’ warm applause at the end of the light-hearted performance yesterday.
The song had a serious message. Tonga is suffering an outbreak of the zika virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, and can cause serious birth defects.
Alifeleti Atiola, the principal of the school in the rainforest, revealed mosquito repellent was sprayed for 48 hours ahead of the royal visit. He said it was to reassure the pregnant duchess about the zika threat.
Mr Atiola added: “I knew there was a concern. I just wanted to make sure she knew that it is safe here.” Meghan, 37, did not join Harry, 34, when he trekked into the forest to dedicate two of the school’s rainforest tracts to the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy environmental project. The school, Tupou College on the Tongan island of Tongatapu, is said to be the oldest secondary in the Pacific. Due to the zika threat, UK authorities have advised against all but essential travel to Tonga and neighbouring Fiji, where the royal couple have also been during their 16-day tour of the region.
While being shown around a market in Tonga yesterday, Harry and Meghan declined a stallholder’s offer of a necklace carved from black coral.
The royals are thought to have said “no” because of environmental concerns – eco groups are against stripping black coral from the ocean.
Later, after the couple returned to Sydney, the duchess dazzled in a £10,000 Oscar de la Renta dress – adorned with laser-cut birds – at the Australian Geographic Society Awards.
The pair handed out prizes at the ceremony. Harry also accepted an award on behalf of the Queen for the QCC campaign to boost forest conservation.
Paying tribute to his father, Harry said Prince Charles and others have been “unrelenting in their commitment to preserve the most valuable resource we have – our planet”.