Trevor Maxwell presents Queen Elizabeth II with a Te Arawa mere. Photo / Supplied
Trevor Maxwell lined up with his classmates from Ngongotahā Primary School and watched in amazement as Queen Elizabeth II drove through town in a black limousine.
Waving a British flag, the small boy from Ngāti Rangiwewehi thought to himself, "wow, that's royalty. Maybe [one day] I'll get to Buckingham Palace".
"She did that lovely royal wave."
That was 1954.
Some 58 years later, Maxwell, the boy from Ngongotahā, shook hands with Queen Elizabeth II in Windsor Castle.
Maxwell was in the UK as part of the Queen's 2012 Diamond Jubilee, bringing Te Arawa kapa haka performers to be part of the official celebrations.
He got a call some years before as part of the preparation, was told it was "top secret" and was asked if he would be available to be at the pageant.
"I was just excited and that of course. We planned and prepared."
Then came the chance to meet the Queen herself at an afternoon tea at Windsor Castle, a special occasion for the pageant performers, who came from all around the Commonwealth.
"There was an afternoon tea with cucumber sandwiches ... beautiful sandwiches I can recall."
He said the Queen, then "bright and breezy" was "just delightful".
"We shook hands and I gave her a greenstone mere. It was gifted on behalf of Te Arawa, from Te Puia. She passed it on to an aide.
"She remembered Rotorua. I said, I was a little fella waving out to her."
He said the Queen fondly remembered Rotorua, with its "geysers and the performances she'd seen".
He was amazed at Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who was "even more knowledgeable" about kapa haka.
"He asked, do you guys do that All Black haka, Ka Mate?
"I said, [yes but] we're going to put even more emphasis on it now.
"It was just wonderful to personally meet them. It was just a beautiful afternoon there at Windsor Castle."
He said a hairy moment came when an African former child soldier - performing at the jubilee as part of a children's choir - hugged the Queen.
"We were told all about the protocols of what you can or can't do. It's normally not done."
The Queen hugged the child back, Maxwell said.
"That melted the hearts of everyone. She showed the affection."
Maxwell, a Rotorua district councillor who has held a seat on the council since 1977, and a kapa haka champion, said it pleased him it appeared the Queen celebrated Māori culture.
He is regularly referred to in Rotorua as Matua - or Uncle - Trev.
Maxwell was saddened by the monarch's death, saying it was "a day that we'd hope would never come".
Being that small boy with a flag on the side of the road had a profound impact on his view of the monarchy.
"Unashamedly, I'm a royalist - from then on."
• Local Democracy Reporting is public interest journalism funded by NZ On Air.
The Rotorua law student who authored it says the support was 'overwhelming but inspiring'.