Prince a master of talkabout

The Prince arrives at the RNZAF base at Whenuapai north to a guard of Honour yesterday. Picture / Greg Bowker

It's part of the Prince job description: endless smalltalk. Charles' chit-chat yesterday covered the heat, his jetlag - "It's a long way and I'm still recovering" - and self-deprecating apologies for making people stand around waiting for him.

But British-born New Zealand-resident Sylvia Corin, 58, reckons she got the best exchange. As Charles walked through the Auckland War Memorial Museum to view weaving exhibition The Eternal Thread, he spotted the small blue, white and red, slightly squashed miniature hat atop Mrs Corin's curly hair, and called out to her.

"Where did you get that hat?"

"I got it at your first wedding, in London," said Mrs Corin, her face blooming with pleasure. "It's 24 years old and I've had it as a souvenir in my bedroom all these years."

Charles laughed. "It's worn better than me!" he said, and moved on, leaving Mrs Corin feeling mildly embarrassed that she had mentioned marriage number one with number two so close. But her excitement at having had two seconds with a future King assuaged that.

Others who turned out to see Charles in Auckland yesterday had to be content with waving home-made signs, like Daphne Pinkney, of Orewa, whose paper-on-cardboard efforts read "welcome to my future king" and "best wishes to you and Camilla".

Applause was tentative and scattered, as if people weren't sure whether it was the done thing or not. "Bring back Camilla!" shouted one elderly woman, smiling broadly.

Charles' Auckland programme started with a late-morning arrival at Whenuapai Air Base in an Air Force Boeing 757, accompanied by a British press pack of several dozen.

Dressed in his uniform of commodore-in-chief of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, he reviewed 100 staff before doing a hangar walkabout, where several hundred staff and their families waited.

He asked uniformed staff where they had earned their medals, and civilians who their partners were. He seemed relaxed and unrushed.

Anna Woollard, a 23-year-old flight officer, was terrified she'd trip over her tongue, but found the Prince "easy to talk to. He asks lots of questions and takes a keen interest in what he's asking you."

Charles, who is shorter and more trim than photos suggest, will never be accused of being touchy-feely in public. His hands stay rigidly at his side and he bends rather stiffly from the waist to better hear people.

But when 10-month-old Jayme Saunders blew a big wet raspberry right at him, he spontaneously blew one back.

At a lunch at Westhaven restaurant Pontoon, Charles outlined the successes of The Prince's Trust, which assists young people into purposeful ventures and is now 10 years old in New Zealand.

Later at the museum, he was presented with a kahuweka - a cloak of weka and pukeko feathers - by Iri Morunga and Kelly Walker, both 23, and both grandchildren of master weaver Te Aue Davis.

Outside, Mrs Corin was still buzzing. "Kind - that's how he comes across. He obviously has pat answers to give people, but he comes across as warm and sensitive and caring for people. He gave back to me for my effort."