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


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The Australian Constitutional Monarchy will remain. There is stronger affection towards the BRF amongst the young, that I notice, than there was ten years ago.
The system works well and we love having an Australian G.G.

This tour has alerted to me the benefits of having Harry and Meghan (or an active member of the BRF) working and visiting the Commonwealth countries. The Queen's idea of there being Commonwealth focused working royals is fantastic.
I hope Harry and Meghan will gradually visit and work in all Commonwealth countries for at least one month per year. It could be a firendly glue and a grassroots connection that will be positive and long lasting.
 
Sun Lion said:
Some details of the next days of the tour - including local times of events.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/ente...nce-harry-and-meghan-while-they-re-in-nz.html

I don't know how much live coverage of the New Zealand leg we will get here in Australia, but there wil be clips on the news programs at least.

Love the sound of the BBQ on the beach - and the Facebook pages letting the general public know where to see them sounds great.

Harry and Meghan are due in Wellington at 3.00pm local time.


It has been fantastic to follow this tour - really great live TV coverage.

I think Harry and Meghan have been more embraced by Australia than anyone expected.

(And no doubt New Zealand will be the same.)

The baby announcement, the involvement with the service men and women, the couple's obvious delight in each other - a warm, happy Royal tour.


Enjoy the next few days fellow posters. It's been such great fun following Harry and Meghan's time in Australia and the South Pacific, and being able to share everyone's thoughts and opinions here on TRFs.
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and thank you, Sun Lion, for your on the spot coverage for RF that is so much appreciated by the rest of us online!:flowers: I am glad the Oztour was such a success and l I earned so much about Aussieness; thanks so much for your explanations! By the same token, if you want Canuck coverage, we are only too happy to oblige!:lol:
 
Interesting Iluvbertie it is sad for Charles but nice that Australia doesnt want to take anymore away from an old woman.
Back to M&H, apparently Meghan gave a speech when she was wearing the green dress everyone disliked. I was happy she actually spoke so was wondering what she said and hoped it wasnt feminist
 
XeniaCasaraghi said:
Interesting Iluvbertie it is sad for Charles but nice that Australia doesnt want to take anymore away from an old woman.
Back to M&H, apparently Meghan gave a speech when she was wearing the green dress everyone disliked. I was happy she actually spoke so was wondering what she said and hoped it wasnt feminist
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There was nothing feminist about her speech, not that I think there would be anything wrong with that. She focused on the support that service members receive from their families and friends and how important it is for wounded soldiers to have that support during the rehabilitation process.

It was actually a pretty good speech. There are some YouTube videos, and if you don't mind wading through the muck at the DailyMail, there is a transcript of the speech.
 
XeniaCasaraghi said:
Interesting Iluvbertie it is sad for Charles but nice that Australia doesnt want to take anymore away from an old woman.
Back to M&H, apparently Meghan gave a speech when she was wearing the green dress everyone disliked. I was happy she actually spoke so was wondering what she said and hoped it wasnt feminist
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Feminism wasn’t what the closing ceremony was about. She spoke of the community that supports the athletes. She did, however, make a speech highlighting the importance of education for women and announced two grants going towards that in Fiji.
 
Sun Lion, thanks for your updates! Actually, thanks to all of our Australian posters for the updates including Curryong for the on the ground report in Melbourne!
 
Feminism means equality of the sexes, socially, politically and economically, what is wrong with that?
 
Channel 9 Australia is running a special on the tour this Sunday.
 
They should be landing soon.
 
Oh a very windy day! Hold on to your skirt, Meghan! The PM giving them an especially warm welcome.
 
To be honest I don't recall anyone not doing good on a tour except The Wales' in 92.
 
Feminism is not some evil word. It's about equality plain and simple.

Meghan has shown an interest in women's issues long before marriage. And her events since and on tour reflect that. Her speech in Fiji about education for women is a great example. A great cause to support. Best way to improve communities is to ensure all its people are educated and strong.

Great speech at Invictus. Families are an important support system for the wounded. Their sacrifice in war time, and support after, doesn't get as much attention as it should.

Now off to NZ and final leg of tour. Enjoying this :flowers:

Rebecca English may have left but understandable. She is off to Africa with Charles and Camilla next week. Busy weeks for a royal reporter.
 
Thank you Julianna and Jacqui for giving me a summary of her speech. I didn't know where the speech was occuring so I didn't know what it would be about. Always happy to see support for soldiers, plus it makes me want to do more for the ones who come back physically unharmed but mentally scarred.
 
Those people in the crowds are amazing. They are giving Harry and Meghan such a warm welcome. Meghan even gave a few advice to an actress in the crowd. Someone gave Meghan a flower and she immediately pinned it to her coat.
 
Iluvbertie said:
Charles will be a major reason why many Australians will vote to become a republic when the time comes and it may be sooner than the death of the Queen.

The ALP, who are expected to win the election next year, have promised a plebiscite on a republic in their first term. They are going to ask a question like 'Do you want Australia to become a republic?' That question would elicite a majority Yes vote based on the polls around at the moment.

If, as expected, the vote is a Yes then there will be a series of plebisictes to find out the kind of republic. Only when one of those is a clear favourite will it be put to the Australian people as a referendum to finally break free of the UK and have our own Head of State - one that cares about us and only us. Whether that happens in the reign of the Queen or in Charles' reign or even into William's is in the future.

New Zealand are also looking into becoming a republic. The polls there are even saying that about 50% of the population are opposed to the cost of the upcoming visit by Harry and Meghan.

It may very well be that by the end of HM's reign many of the remaining 16 realms are ready to leave. She started her reign with over 50 and will be leaving her heirs 16 or fewer.
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With the way my simple mind works, to me it seems that at the transition happens between the reign of Elizabeth II and Charles III, its the perfect time actually to make changes and I don't see it as a snub to Charles at all. In fact, we're already seeing signs that the BRF are adapting to this idea when we look at this tour. Harry has been publicly named as Commonwealth Youth Ambassador. Its going to be his role in the "Firm" and the fact that the word Commonwealth is stressed, the emphasis is on Commonwealth rather than Harry being a Youth Ambassador to the "colonies" where Elizabeth II is the head of state.

The second Elizabethan era ends and a progressive new reign starts under Charles III. Things are so very different now then they were when Elizabeth became Queen in 1952. I absolutely can see countries that now have the Queen as their head of state voting to becomes their own republic but I cannot see them voting to leave the Commonwealth.

Actually, with the way things have changed and now heading into 2019, tours are so much easier. Communication is instant. Charles III won't need to do a six month tour after he becomes King like his mother did. He can easily hop over to a country and visit (sometimes even in one day) and we've seen how much ground Harry and Meghan have covered in this extensive tour.

The world has shrunk and we live in a global community and I do believe its because of this that nations really feel the need to be their own individual nations with their own national pride and manage their own internal affairs.

Its called progress. :D
 
jacqui24 said:
I notice that security is VERY tight today.
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The reporters on the ground also noted the heavy security presence. They are unsure if this is the standard for New Zealand or if there were any special concerns.
 
Fros said:
The reporters on the ground also noted the heavy security presence. They are unsure if this is the standard for New Zealand or if there were any special concerns.
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Honestly, last time I saw security this tight on a walkabout was in Ireland. They were surrounding them. Usually they do stay back a little bit to let the photographers do their job. I've also seen a few people being warned.
 
A lot has been said about Meghan's speech at the closing ceremony and how well she did and some have put an emphasis on feminism among the various things she talked about. Its finally hit me just what really impressed me the most about Meghan's speech and to me, it showed that the speech wasn't just a generic speech written three weeks ahead of time but one that hit home about these particular Invictus Games that she experienced.

We were all very amused and talked about the incident of the "Great Bear Hug" where a sailing competitor jumped onto the ship and engulfed Harry and swung him off the ground in a huge bear hug. During Meghan's speech, she gave more insight into the man, Ryan Novak of Chicago, and his story. She gave in depth meaning to what transpired on that boat that we all witnessed. She made it all about him, his struggles, the wonderful support system he's got behind him in his family and what the Invictus Games gave him a platform for and a meaning to his life.

Meghan wasn't there to spout on her issues. She was there in support of the athletes that competed and their indomitable spirit they all displayed proudly during these Games.

That's my take on it anyways. ?
 
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