Duchess back on royal duties with a surprise walkabout
THE Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent a restorative night in the haven of Fraser Island, as the mother-to-be bounces back from tiredness to resume her royal duties on their Pacific tour. The Duchess, who is thought to be four months pregnant, will pick up her full programme of engagements as the tour reaches Fiji today, after missing out on a day of activity in the Queensland resort amid fears the bumpy roads would be too difficult.
In their final day in Australia, on Fraser Island, she joined the Duke for a surprise walkabout, looking in full health as she greeted a small group of well-wishers offering gifts for the Sussex baby.
She is understood to be feeling well rested, and keen to pick up the full tour schedule, as of today. Yesterday, the Duke conducted a morning of engagements alone, unveiling a Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy project and spending time with Fraser Island’s traditional owners in cleansing and welcoming ceremonies to allow him to paddle in their sacred Lake Mckenzie.
The couple travelled separately, with the Duchess boarding a whalewatching vessel and the Duke taking the tourist barge to the island. There, the Duchess settled in to the Kingfisher Bay Resort with her aides to “prep” for the next few days of her tour, declining to take advantage of the many pregnancy-approved spa treatments, tours and art galleries it has to offer.
The Duke, meanwhile, undertook the bumpy ride along narrow sand tracks to meet Aboriginal elders. Joe Gala, an Indigenous dancer who made the Duke laugh by posing for a photograph on one leg, said he told him that the Duchess would have found it “a bit rough going through the island when she is a bit crook”.