Christine Donoghue, Barry Jenkins, Donald Blackmore and Neila Blackmore meet the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend at the Arts Village Cafe to talk all things royal and regalia.
In 1953, Rotorua’s Selwyn Bennett, then 20, sailed for six months across the seas to attend the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Now 91, this weekend he will be among royal watchers across the Commonwealth following the pomp and pageantry of King Charles III’s coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
In anticipation of the event, locals from across the Bay of Plenty recalled their royal experiences and hopes for his reign.
Bennett told the Rotorua Daily Post Weekend he felt “very lucky” to be invited to the late Queen’s coronation as a son of the first Māori Archbishop in New Zealand, Frederick Bennett.
The 45-year-old moved to the UK in 2003 and founded Love Your Doorstep, a neighbourhood and community organisation, to “bring the community together” after the London riots in 2011.
Rigby said she would be attending after last year receiving a British Empire Medal for her work in the community over during Covid-19 and ongoing work around youth crime.
Asked what she was most looking forward to about the event, Rigby said it was “to be part of a moment in history”.
She said everyone was “gearing up” in London for the celebrations.
“Streets and homes are covered in bunting and street parties are being organised. If the Brits know how to do one thing, it’s a street party.”
Emma Rigby, originally from Rotorua, is now based in London and will be attending the King's coronation. Photo / Supplied
Rotorua royalists revel in the regalia
In Rotorua, excited royalists were waiting at the Arts Village Cafe to speak with the Rotorua Daily Post about the weekend events.
Union Jack-emblazoned merchandise covered the table including bunting, tiaras and mugs alongside photos of King Charles – a travel-sized shrine to the royal family.
Wearing vibrant red lipstick and a glittering tiara, Christine Donoghue said she had always loved the royal family.
“I think the Queen was a marvellous woman. I thought she might outlive me for a while,” she said and laughed.
“And Charlie [King Charles III], well, Charlie’s my darling.
“He’s a gardener and anybody who’s a gardener has got to be a good bloke, in my opinion.”
Rotorua royalists (from left) Christine Donoghue, Barry Jenkins, Donald Blackmore and Neila Blackmore. Photo / Andrew Warner
Donoghue said she thinks the royal family “do a lot of good work” but she believed what happened with Prince Harry and Meghan was a “rather tragic situation”.
Donoghue was in London the week after Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed died in 1997. She recalled going to department store Harrods and signing the condolence book.
Donoghue was looking forward to seeing the crown jewels and regalia this weekend.
She was also interested to see if Charles “bears his chest to get anointed” - a part of the traditional process which includes the Archbishop of Canterbury using the Coronation Spoon to pour holy oils on the hands, chest and head of the Sovereign.
“I’ve seen the coronation for the Queen on TV... It will be interesting to see how it differs. I believe it is going to be quite modernised, but it’s still a mystery until we see it.
“And of course, [looking forward to seeing] what Queen [Consort] Camilla might be wearing.”
Passionate royalist Barry Jenkins thought the royal family kept the country together and said he would rather have a royal head of state than anything else.
“I think to myself, thank goodness we’ve got the royals. And Charles, bless him, you know, he’s got a hell of a job to follow his mother.”
Jenkins said he thought King Charles would do his “very, very best” and believed Camilla had stepped up to the task.
Jenkins was looking forward to “the colour, the pomp and the pageantry” at the coronation.
“It’s going to be a wonderful big party.”
The earnestness of the occasion is what Neila Blackmore was looking forward to most.
“It will probably, it will be, the last coronation I will ever see.”
Her first memory of the royal family was Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
Blackmore’s next interaction with the family was during the 1970 royal tour to New Zealand. The Queen participated in the James Cook bicentenary celebrations and introduced Prince Charles and Prince Anne to New Zealand.
“I was standing on the top of the Shakespeare cliff and Princess Anne was about two feet away from me. Prince Charles was [beside] her and the Queen was just a little bit in front.”
Donald Blackmore hadbeen a royalist since he could remember.
“I grew up in a royalist family.
“[My] uncle Walter brought me up. He went to World War I. After the war, he went to Buckingham Palace and had afternoon tea.”
Blackmore met the Queen at Marton Railway Station in 1954.
“I was a boy scout and at the bottom of the steps [and] she said, ‘have you been here long?’”
Tauranga’s Nellie Hackett’s encounter with the Queen happened at the Te Rapa races in 1953 with her father-in-law, Labour Party politician Fred Hackett.
She said he asked the organisers if she could sit in the box instead of himself — “he was a sweetheart like that”.
“One of the organisers took me there, and I am not telling a lie, who was sitting there but the Queen.
“If I stretched my hand, I could have touched [her].
Nellie Hackett sat in the same racing box as Queen Elizabeth II. Photo / Alex Cairns
“Then a man came and said to her [and said] ‘Your ticket madam. It was number 18?’ and [the Queen] said: ‘Yes, number 18′.
“And then the horse race was on and everyone was cheering and shouting - mind you, not her - and her horse came third.
“We have researched, read books, sung songs and made crowns. They are preschoolers so it has to be pretty simple.”
Smith said it was important for young children to learn about an important part of our history as a Commonwealth country.
Visit nzherald.co.nz this weekend for live news coverage of coronation celebrations. Televised coverage of King Charles III’s coronation ceremony will kick off on TV1 from 7pm on Saturday.
