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]

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/meghan-markles-daring-look-see-skirt-optical-illusion-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]

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]

'Daring skirt or optical illusion'?

https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/meghan-markles-daring-look-see-skirt-optical-illusion-055248824.html

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

 

[Fijiro]

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]

'Daring skirt or optical illusion'?

https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/meghan-markles-daring-look-see-skirt-optical-illusion-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]

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]

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/...-speech?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_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/harry-and-meghans-first-tour-the-new-couple-on-the-world-stage/

 

[jacqui24]

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/harry-and-meghans-first-tour-the-new-couple-on-the-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]

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/...-speech?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_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/harry-and-meghans-first-tour-the-new-couple-on-the-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.

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.

 

[Muhler]

Well, Harry has great people skills, there is no doubt that!

One of the greatest and most appealing people skills he has, is to know when to step back and let his wife shine. While still being present mind you.
In the eyes of Joe and Jolene Average, that earns him serious brownie points IMO!

 

[jacqui24]

I would say that the amount of engagements is *around* normal, but slightly higher than some recent tours for the KP set. What I think made it hectic was exactly what you highlighted: they did a lot in too short a period of time. Take Melbourne for example. They were there for a mere 5 hours and did all the things but I felt that meant that engagements were short changed and rushed.

They also did a huge amount of just pure traveling too that added to how hectic the tour was on everyone. They also had no "rest" days either.

I think the scheduling would've been a lot better with a few more days. But with the bookends being Eugenie's wedding and Prince Charles and DoC's Africa tour, they had to do what they can. It'd been a lot better if they didn't come back to Admiralty House every night in Australia. I think it'd been a lot easier on Meghan not to fly back and forth everyday too. They used the Royal Air Force jet, so the problem of commercial flight isn't that much of the problem. It might just be that the RRs would have to divide and conquer rather than be there everyday.

As great as it is for someone that follows the couple to have this many stories all at once. I do think having so many moments on a tour is a disservice sometimes. Each individual moments can't get their proper moment before the next one comes. I would've liked there to be a slow down after her speech on suffrage (although some tried to make it a political issue 125 years after the fact).

 

[Abbigail]

Well I can't say I had an issue with the pacing or number of events. I think the scheduling made for a more exciting tour, which was important because I know some were worried about a 16-day tour being too long, becoming boring but it didn't feel that way at all. Harry and Meghan also obviously wanted to do as much as possible and I thought it was handled well, all things considered.

I do understand the complaints about the Invictus Games getting the short end of the stick. I would have loved to see more involvement there as well but I think they deliberately chose to proritize the tour, with it being their first big one as a couple. There is still Invictus 2020, which I think will get the proper attention.

 

[AlowVera]

Well I can't say I had an issue with the pacing or number of events. I think the scheduling made for a more exciting tour, which was important because I know some were worried about a 16-day tour being too long, becoming boring but it didn't feel that way at all. Harry and Meghan also obviously wanted to do as much as possible and I thought it was handled well, all things considered.

I do understand the complaints about the Invictus Games getting the short end of the stick. I would have loved to see more involvement there as well but I think they deliberately chose to proritize the tour, with it being their first big one as a couple. There is still Invictus 2020, which I think will get the proper attention.

I think the issue was the wedding and also Charles's tour in Africa so they had this two week time frame in which they could go to the Pacific countries and also attend the games. They could not do it before and overshadow the wedding and at the same time they had to complete the tour so they do not overshadow Prince Charles in Africa.

 

[Abbigail]

Oh I agree. Something was going to get shortchanged as a result and unfortunately that was the Games. Good thing we have more to look forward to on that front.

 

[Zaira]

But IMO, the Games are something that should be not short-changed. Ever. They are Harry's signature event and frankly something that has given him a huge amount of positive PR. Chris mentioned there was some grumbles among competitors about Harry not being there AND his lack of presence drawing away media attention. I hope KP learns from this and makes sure that all future IGs are given the attention they deserve and Harry is committed to the duration of the event.

And for folks asking, the Cambridge trip to Australia/NZ with George was 52 engagements. I am trying to track down the count for Charles/Camilla's last few OZ tours. The RR's for the Sussex tour keep saying 76, but I have seen 60 as another number too. So not sure which one is correct!

 

[Roslyn]

I think it was a mistake to extend the tour to a regional tour because it took emphasis away from the Invictus Games and allowed focus to be turned towards Meghan. That might have suited the royal tour-organisers and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, but I think Invictus should have been given priority and that they should have attended more events and not gone to Fiji and Tonga.

 

[rominet09]

When do they leave for UK ?

 

[Iluvbertie]

I will have the total number of engagements for each of them for the tour up later today but around the high 50s to low 60s for Harry and a few less for Meghan is my count.

When they announced what they were doing they said things like a 'ferry ride' in Sydney and a 'tram ride' in Melbourne. Yes they did these but there were official engagements. That is why the 76 count will end up lower as those that did the pre-tour count included these sorts of events that HM said weren't engagements.

I am still waiting for the final day to appear on the CC or elsewhere. I believe there were four engagements on that day - but that may not be the case. There were 3 on the 30th for instance. The busiest day had 6 engagements while most were in the range of 4 or 5 with some having 3.

 

[Curryong]

I believe they fly out today. I think Chris Ship made some fair points (we thought he was filming a documentary of this tour and were proved correct) and I'm sure if the Sussexes do another tour in a couple of years (perhaps to North America) things will be shorter and a little more paced.

It was probably killing for Harry and Meghan, a sort of 'Tuesday, so this must be Belgium' sort of feeling! However they were given the responsibility of a long and packed tour and more than fulfilled the brief. I think Meghan was especially brilliant and I say that as a longtime Harry follower.

I do agree that Invictus should have received more attention and I'm sure The Hague will be very different. Hopefully Harry will be there every day. I also think the Suva market incident was a blunder. Not good PR there, and it left some locals feeling flat and disappointed I'm sure. It definitely should have been better organised.

All in all though, and speaking as an Aussie, I was delighted with this tour and the amount of publicity it gathered for all sorts of causes. I'd say TPTB and the Queen will be pleased.