Royals

Duchess Meghan recognised her old Instagram follower and what happened next will warm your heart

The pair embraced like old friends.
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Lets face it, we’ve all wondered, and at times hoped, that our favourite celebrities might stumble across our social media accounts and befriend us.

Sure, the chances of it happening are pretty slim with many famous faces boasting millions of followers apiece – but it’s certainly not impossible, and one royal fan has recently proved it.

READ: Duchess Meghan shares beautiful moment with young cardiac arrest survivor during Australian tour

One lucky fan of Meghan Markle’s got more than she bargained for when she waited to meet the royals in New Zealand on Tuesday. (Image: Getty)

20-year-old Hannah Sergel of New Zealand waited patiently to see Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry as they made their way through crowds in Auckland’s Viaduct on Tuesday.

And while the thousands of people there simply wanted to catch a glimpse of the royals, Hannah had other reasons for hoping to see the Duchess in the flesh.

Before Meghan was a royal, she had a very active Instagram account on which she sometimes interacted with fans on. One of these fans was young Hannah.

Hannah and Meghan had conversations on the photo-sharing platform, which sparked a special bond between the two – one that was clearly memorable to Markle.

As the royal made her way through the crowds, she came across Hannah, and like old friends, the pair shared a warm embrace.

Speaking to Nine Honey, Hannah said Meghan had been an encouraging voice to her as she started university.

“She used to follow me [on Instagram] and we’d have conversations before she had to deactivate it,” she said.

“She’d tell me to do well at university and encouragement to be myself, so she means the world to me.”

Meghan was an encouraging voice to Hannah as she began her studies at University. (Image: Twitter / @OliveriNatalie)

The 20-year-old was over the moon that Markle had made the effort to see her, despite having just walked through a crowd of thousands, greeting and shaking hands with people along the way.

“She recognised me and knew who I was so that’s why she came over,” Hannah explained.

Meghan has shared some adorable moments with fans throughout her 16-day tour of New Zealand, Australia, Fiji and Tonga.

On Monday, the Duke and Duchess met with several school children at a Wellington cafe. This included five-year-old Joe Young, whose shyness got the better of him when meeting the royal couple.

To persuade him to speak, Meghan gave him an adorable tummy tickle, captured in the clip below:

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While this technique didn’t quite work on the shy young boy, Meghan wasn’t about to give up. She later asked the cafe staff to bring out some cakes and chocolates for the children to eat, which they gratefully did!

Meanwhile, Harry’s kind-hearted nature has also been front-and-centre during the royal tour. While visiting Dubbo in Australia, the ginger Prince came across a young boy called Luke Vincent from Buninyong School.

The five-year-old’s favourite person in the world is Father Christmas, so upon seeing Harry’s beard, he went to stroke it with much excitement before giving him a big hug – too cute!

Prince Harry also had an adorable encounter with a young school boy earlier in the couple’s royal tour of the South Pacific. (Image: Getty)

The royal couple are wrapping up their whirlwind 16-day royal tour Down Under by visiting New Zealand’s Rotorua on Wednesday.

No doubt Harry and Meghan will look back at all these sweet memories with as much delight as we will for a long while to come!

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