National leader Christopher Luxon is in London for the coronation. Photo / Alex Burton
National leader Christopher Luxon is in London for the coronation. Photo / Alex Burton
National leader Christopher Luxon has put out a public invitation to Kiwis in London asking them to join him for a drink to celebrate King Charles III’s coronation.
Luxon posted in the Facebook group Kiwis in London Chat saying he would be at the Two Chairmen pub in Westminster on May 5 at 6pm.
“No doubt many of you will be enjoying coronation celebrations over the weekend, if you’re in Westminster on Friday night, I’d love to say gidday,” he wrote.
“I’ll be at a pub so feel free to come along for a drink.”
Luxon has previously revealed he has never drunk alcohol, but can be expected to knock back a Coke No Sugar or Pepsi Max as his drink of choice.
Members of the 35,000-strong group responded to the post, with one posting a gif of former Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern along with the query “Can we bring a plus one? Asking for a friend...”
Others commented it was time to “dust the blue suit off” and noted “two ticks blue”.
Luxon told media the meet-up was an opportunity to catch up with expats while he is in London.
“I always try to catch up with Kiwis when I am overseas to hear from them,” he said.
“It’s a bit like a public meeting - we will be there and whoever wants to will turn up.”
He said he had been “inundated” with people wanting to come along.
“It will be very casual, very relaxed and we’ll see who shows up. If not, I’ll have a quiet drink by myself.
“A lot of Kiwis living overseas are interested in what is happening at home. Many of them were unable to come home during Covid and they’re worried about the economy here. They’re interested in what a National government will do and our priorities if National is elected in October.”
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is also in London for the coronation, and this week revealed the new King had gifted him a tray of sausage rolls.
Hipkins was all smiles as he met with King Charles ahead of this weekend’s coronation - and told media they had shared conversations about a range of issues affecting New Zealand as a country and the Kiwi public; including the recovery effort after Cyclone Gabrielle.
“The King’s been closely following the recovery from the flooding and the cyclone and so he had wanted to talk about that - and that led into a broader conversation about climate change,” he said.
King Charles gifted Prime Minister Chris Hipkins warm sausage rolls after their meeting at Buckingham Palace on May 3. Photo / RNZ
“The King has a really active interest in New Zealand, having been a regular visitor to New Zealand and I’m sure he’ll intend to continue to be a regular visitor in the future.”
Hipkins also proudly showed off a tray of sausage rolls he said the King had given him.
Smiling from ear to ear, he posed with the small tinfoil tray, which had been lined with a white doily and looked to have held about five sausage rolls.
Only two were left by the time Hipkins started posing for photos with it.
