Queen Elizabeth at Waitangi

During the Queen’s visit here in 1990 she attended the Waitangi Day commemoration. It was a very hot day and she had a feather cloak put around her.

Later that day a wet T-shirt was thrown at her.

We attended the Waitangi Day commemoration the following year.

It was again a very hot day and we stood in the sun for several hours listening to speeches in Ma¯ori.

I asked the then British High Commissioner how the Queen had managed the previous year given the heat and a cloak put around her.

His diplomatic reply was that “Waitangi Day 1990 is deeply etched in the Queen’s memory.”