Harry & Meghan: Tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand - October 2018

[Tarlita]

I think that's great to see a familiar face in the crowd. Great feelings for both girls.
Seems kinda sad the tour is nearly over but they need a good rest now.
They will never have to buy a stuffed toy ever again.

And while in NZ may I just remind you that a very good looking New Zealander Gary Lewis married into the royal family in 2004. He married Lady Davina the daughter of the Queens cousin Prince Richard of Gloucester. They met in Bali I think.
He is a former sheep shearer, carpenter and surfer. I think they live mostly in the UK.

[gagates]

for me it was one of the most interesting tours. harry really found a match made in heaven with meghan. of the many pictures of her you really get the sense of a very warm, caring, attentive and serene person. i really like that.
and i also get the sense, that they are not doing it just for the pictures.

[caethi]

Originally Posted by jacqui24

Apparently this happened.

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Prince Harry speaking from Abel Tasman National Park “From my wife, myself and our little bump, it’s a blessing to be here ... We bring you greetings from my grandmother.” @9NewsAUS #royaltour

I really dislike it when people refer to a yet to be born baby as a “bump”. It is part of their generation I guess, and also a common media term, so I should get used to it. I know that parents-to-be go through different stages when adjusting to pregnancy, so I guess they don’t see the “bump” as a baby quite yet.

[Curryong]

I think of the allusion more as Harry's little in-joke to the media and others who've been on 'bump watch', with eyes trained on Meghan's tummy since the announcement at the beginning of the tour.

[Curryong]

'Daring skirt or optical illusion'?

https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/megha...055248824.html

[Madame Verseau]

This tour was amazing . The meet and greets, the events, the fashions!!! The crowds were big and Baby Sussex may have added to the crowds. It also proves the garbage Meghan was getting from various quarters didn't stick, otherwise people wouldn't be bringing their kids to see them. Kids were cutting class. With all the gifts Harry and Meghan received they will need a U-Haul.

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by RaggedyAnn

One thing this tour has proven to me is that we need way more diversity in royal reporters.

Absolutely.

And congratulations on your first post.

And I've learned something new: Welly Wanging.
From now on to the rest of my life I will have an image in my head of New Zealanders tossing wellies around at every opportunity.

[Dman]

Originally Posted by Curryong

'Daring skirt or optical illusion'?

https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/megha...055248824.html

An optical illusion. She’s not going to wear a very daring skirt.

[Fijiro]

Originally Posted by jacqui24

They named two baby chicks. Harry named one Tihei (Life) and Meghan named one Koha (Gift).

Guess these are out for baby names?

lol

[loonytick]

[QUOTE=Curryong;2166592]'Daring skirt or optical illusion'?

https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/megha...055248824.html

How dumb. There was one isolated photo in which it looked possibly see-through because the skirt was momentarily hugging her legs a little, but in all the rest it’s very clear that the fabric was *brown* and blue, the brown is MUCH darker than her skin, and the brown strips take up a much wider swathe of area than her legs ever could.

[Emmily]

Great tour for these two. I'm impressed with how well Megan did and how at home she seems to be. Always a big and genuine smile for those she meets and happy to be where she is.

[Osipi]

This was definitely an amazing tour and there were just so many interesting things going on that it was hard to keep up with everything. Harry and Meghan have very much earned a well deserved rest and some down time to recoup.

I think what struck me the most about this tour is the amount of the human interest stories that have come out about the people that Harry and Meghan met and interacted with. From an old friend like Daphne Dunn to a young entrepreneur with the latest in fashion jewelry made of macaroni to a reunion between Meghan and Hannah and seeing Harry being swept off his feet by Ryan Novak, these are memories that will stay with me when I think of this tour.

I definitely feel that should Harry and Meghan return down under for another tour in the future, it will very much have a feeling of "coming home" for them. There is a lot in the future for them with the Commonwealth and if this tour is an indication of anything, it promises to have two people that definitely will do a fine job of pulling the Commonwealth nations together even more.

The future is looking very, very bright.

[Countessmeout]

This was an amazing tour. Sad to see it end. Sure the couple though are happy to be heading home. It's been a long 16 days.

The photos were great as always but the amazing stories do much more. And not just the Invictus part. Harry abd Meghan both reconnecting with people. Things like the noodle necklace and Eva. Harry and Meghan both have this great way of connecting with people. I love the toddler Harry returned to his mom.

I also loved seeing Meghan really shine with her first few speeches

I loved the mix of events they had. And leaves me waiting to see what Meghan will take on back home. I agree with reports that Meghan is inspirational for some women. If I wanted my nieces to look up to a royal it would be someone like Meghan.

[jacqui24]

Originally Posted by Emmily

Great tour for these two. I'm impressed with how well Megan did and how at home she seems to be. Always a big and genuine smile for those she meets and happy to be where she is.

Ok, I do love what Meghan has been able to do in general. But I do want to give praise to both, and especially Harry, on how well prepared they are to take on engagements in the local culture. Harry gave a speech in te reo with more than just the greetings. It was definitely appreciated by their hosts. Both are also seemed to be able to sing Te Aroha in te reo.

[Countessmeout]

Originally Posted by jacqui24

Ok, I do love what Meghan has been able to do in general. But I do want to give praise to both, and especially Harry, on how well prepared they are to take on engagements in the local culture. Harry gave a speech in te reo with more than just the greetings. It was definitely appreciated by their hosts. Both are also seemed to be able to sing Te Aroha in te reo.

Indeed Harry should get kudos as well. His speech was well done, and yes appreciated


I think since this isn't his first tour he gets a bit over shadowed, but they both did fantastic this tour.

Great to see Harry with a partner to work with, shine with. No longer a third wheel with the Cambridges or solo on tours. They make a great team.

[Zaira]

I have not been able to follow the tour as much as I had hope with work stuff, but I have to say that overall, I am so impressed. The "Firm" will undoubtably be happy with how this went, when all is said and done. Looking forward to continuing to catch up!

There are definitely some rough edges that will need to be smoothed. You could tell this is a new team that is still looking for its footing and only having an interim PS doesn't help. But I am sure those things will be addressed soon.

I saw a lot of posts about this on social media and I think I want to also bring it here too. Harry's tours have always been marked by how well they showcase the communities and cultures of where he is visiting. I would argue his tours do this better than anyone else's of the younger generation and I am pleased to see that continue with Meghan on this tour. A great article about it from NZ

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/1...medium=twitter

And here is a great article from Chris Ship at ITV. I think its fair and touches on the things I think the tour did well and where it fell flat. Most noticeably for me, remains the lack of IG (no, I do not think attending the opening/closing and a mere four events was sufficient. At all.) and the sometimes rushed feel to the tour/packing too much into too little time. But as I said, things that were hopefully more about learning curves than anything.

https://www.itv.com/news/2018-10-31/...e-world-stage/

[jacqui24]

Originally Posted by Zaira

And here is a great article from Chris Ship at ITV. I think its fair and touches on the things I think the tour did well and where it fell flat. Most noticeably for me, remains the lack of IG (no, I do not think attending the opening/closing and a mere four events was sufficient. At all.) and the sometimes rushed feel to the tour/packing too much into too little time. But as I said, things that were hopefully more about learning curves than anything.

https://www.itv.com/news/2018-10-31/...e-world-stage/

I will say, I agree about IG. While I knew they wouldn't be there for a lot compared to Harry in the past years due to the tour, I did think they short changed that too much. What gives me hope is that it's in Hague in 2020, doubt they'd have to fit in this big of a tour, if at all, in Netherlands. I'm looking forward to the couple spending more time there. But the athletes were amazing. And IG is one of the few things that I have to pace myself with because it's just too damn moving.

[acnd08]

Such an amazing tour!

I admit this was the first one I followed closely and it did not disappoint! I am sad to see it end but I am happy they'll get some rest and get back to normal life - whatever normal life is for them, haha.

I also agree about the IG. I know they had so much to do in a little over 2 weeks time but I was a little surprised at how little they were actually present for the games. Hopefully, they'll be present for more in 2020.

I'm also happy to sleep like a normal human being again. I'm used to being up till all hours as I have a 1 year old but I pulled some later nights than usual keeping up with all their events!

[Empress Merel]

Originally Posted by Zaira

I have not been able to follow the tour as much as I had hope with work stuff, but I have to say that overall, I am so impressed. The "Firm" will undoubtably be happy with how this went, when all is said and done. Looking forward to continuing to catch up!

There are definitely some rough edges that will need to be smoothed. You could tell this is a new team that is still looking for its footing and only having an interim PS doesn't help. But I am sure those things will be addressed soon.

I saw a lot of posts about this on social media and I think I want to also bring it here too. Harry's tours have always been marked by how well they showcase the communities and cultures of where he is visiting. I would argue his tours do this better than anyone else's of the younger generation and I am pleased to see that continue with Meghan on this tour. A great article about it from NZ

https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/1...medium=twitter

And here is a great article from Chris Ship at ITV. I think its fair and touches on the things I think the tour did well and where it fell flat. Most noticeably for me, remains the lack of IG (no, I do not think attending the opening/closing and a mere four events was sufficient. At all.) and the sometimes rushed feel to the tour/packing too much into too little time. But as I said, things that were hopefully more about learning curves than anything.

https://www.itv.com/news/2018-10-31/...e-world-stage/

I agree with your assessment. There was SO MUCH packed into this tour, that it has bordered into too much for me. The length or the amount of engagements was a bit much.

[jacqui24]

Can someone pull some stats for what is typical number of engagement for a tour like this? I thought things were scheduled too tight, but not necessarily too many. There are days where they could've made the day longer and rearranged the schedule to spend longer time at some engagement. I mean, poor Samantha was trying her hardest to keep them on schedule for walkabouts, but like Chris Ship said "supply always outstrip demand".

The couple really tried their hardest to spend sufficient time with their hosts and those that came to see them and not rush through, which is why they were constantly running late.

Originally Posted by caethi

I really dislike it when people refer to a yet to be born baby as a “bump”. It is part of their generation I guess, and also a common media term, so I should get used to it. I know that parents-to-be go through different stages when adjusting to pregnancy, so I guess they don’t see the “bump” as a baby quite yet.

I wouldn't say they don't see the bump as a baby. Harry was clearly comfortable talking about the baby to an individual as we saw in the video with the little boy. It's probably telling a crowd that is surreal to him at this point. We do have to remember they had to keep this as a secret for a lot longer than we've known. It's really nice to see his reaction after each time he's brought up the baby. He's probably pinching himself to make sure this is reality. They are both over the moon about this.