When Prince Harry arrived at Southern Cross Campus this morning, an inspirational Auckland school that has children from Maori and South Pacific Island cultures from pre-school age to 17, he fell in love.
“Greeting us on one of the footpaths were a lot of pre-school children and as we walked along, Prince Harry was waving at them and he said ‘they’re beautiful’.” Lewis Moeau tells The Weekly. Prince Harry had already expressed a desire to have kids of his own in an interview with Sky TV earlier in the week, so the next comment sounded pretty heartfelt. “He said to me ‘I’d love to take some back with me.'”
The Maori adviser to the Governor-General has been accompanying Harry around New Zealand explaining the ceremonies he’s been attending. Like his compatriots, Moeau is very taken with the Prince who he says is “engaging like his mum, and loves talking to people.”
This morning those qualities were on show again as Prince Harry happily tapped his feet to an incredible display of song and dance by the school pupils.
In his welcome Acting Principal Warren Waetford said: “I would like to share a proverb that guides these young people…..’by deeds the chief is known’. And we have acknowledged the deeds that you have performed, not only in New Zealand, but overseas, and we want to let you know that our young people have seen your deeds as a chief.”
It was a powerful start to a joyous morning of cultural performances from Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands, with pupils in traditional costumes delighting the Prince. The children had been practising for weeks and didn’t put a foot – or swaying hip – wrong.
With a fresh garland of orchids around his neck, Prince Harry presented some of the star pupils with certificates for school awards and as he left, a group of Maori lads performed an exuberant haka to see the Prince off the premises.
The honours kept coming for Prince Harry who at the next event was given an All Blacks Jersey by rugby stars Keven Mealamu and Jerome Kaino. The shirt had “P Harry” and the number 15 on it. “He was like, ‘finally, I get one of these’,” Mealamu said.”It was pretty special to have him come in.”
One of Kaino’s fingers was strapped up due to an injury and this was a constant source of joking between him and the Prince, with Harry saying at one point “you poor baby”.
Prince Harry was visiting the Auckland Spinal Rehabilitation Unit to see the New Zealand Rugby Foundation, which supports catastrophically injured rugby players and their families financially and emotionally for life.
Harry, who is Patron of the Injured Players Foundation in England, met a group of patients who paint with their mouths, with the Prince exclaiming “Don’t tell me you have done that with your mouth” when he walked into the room.
Grant Sharman, 53, who broke his back playing rugby, gave Harry a picture he had painted of the Prince standing next to an Apache helicopter, saying “I don’t know if you have an art collection but if not you can start one now.”
Mr Sharman said: “It’s a nice reminder for him of his time in the service. I started painting in about 1980 and I got a scholarship. My parents are English and moved out here, my mum would have been so proud to see me meeting the Prince.”
Another patient Harry met was Anofale Eneliko, 48, who suffers from a spinal injury and has been at the centre for two months. During their conversation together they both picked up a set of her weights and posed for pictures holding them in the air. “He was asking how long I had been here and where I had feelings in my legs. Then we joked together and lifted the weights,” she said. “It’s been a huge positive for me, it’s so nice to see him face to face not just on the TV and now I had him right here.”
At his final event of the morning, Harry met a group of young people at the Turn Your Life Around youth development programme, an organisation that works with children, young people and families to reduce and prevent youth offending.
General manager Anastasia Meredith said she was blown away when she was told Prince Harry would be coming for a visit. “I couldn’t believe it, we are a small community, a small charitable trust, and someone like Prince Harry wants to come to our hood and hang out with our kids…”
Evidently some of the young people in TYLA didn’t know who Prince Harry was before they were told. “We showed them some clips of him in the army, with the Queen and with his brother’s family,” Ms Meredith said. But they’ll recognise him after today.
When he arrived Prince Harry stepped straight up to play a young lad at table soccer and then took on another at table tennis, but missed an early shot pleading “I gotta warm up.”
In a makeshift game of pool, the Prince took his first shot and got off to a bad start, and was playfully jumping around the small pool table, passing the cue backwards and forwards.
There was lots of laughing and joking between the Prince and his opponent.
But the real moment of comedy was yet to come when Harry painted his hand purple to contribute to the handprint wall at TYLA, and then cheekily dashed across the room to plant a purple handprint onto the head of veteran British royal photographer Arthur Edwards.
The crowd erupted into laughter and Harry added . “You know why I did that,” while laughing.
The Prince knows the photographer, who received an MBE from The Queen in 2012, very well and relished the opportunity to play a prank on him.
Harry apologised to the young people there, who were all smiling and laughing at the disruption.
The visit to Auckland is due to get more serious for Prince Harry later on when he has official audiences with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition at Government House and then attends a reception hosted by the Governor-General to recognise the emergency services at Government House.
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