Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post / Royals

Royal tour 2018: History hovers over Empire past and present

Steve Braunias
By Steve Braunias
Senior Writer·NZ Herald·
31 Oct, 2018 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex did the treewalk among the redwoods.

Our love ya and leave ya friends — cheerio, must dash, wham-bam thank you for the cutlets of spring lamb — Prince Harry and his increasing wife the Duchess of Sussex enjoyed the final day of their New Zealand royal tour in our most hospitable, welcoming city, the sweetly scented Rotorua. Everywhere they went, history followed, trembling in the air like a heatwave.

It was there at Government Gardens, where the massive crowd of maybe about 6000 included Shirley Hamilton, 69, and her daughter Faith Timu, 39. "We're descendants of the First Duke of Hamilton," said Shirley. "He was heir to the throne. But he was beheaded." She raised her voice and swung an imaginary axe: "Beheaded! Sccchhick!"

That happened in 1649. Margaret Foley, 53, who wore many beads and a pair of green plastic sunglasses, remembered that when she was a little girl, her father had a photograph of the royal visit taken at the front arches of the Government Gardens in 1901.

It was Queen Victoria's son Prince George, the Duke of Cornwall. Margaret looked back through the years to the picture hanging on the wall during her childhood and said:
"He wore a funny hat."

We stood on a grass verge above the waiting crowd. A boy lost his grip on the string of an H balloon and it flew off, a woman ran to get a better position but tripped over a chain fence and went flying. The PA played Royals by Lorde, once, twice, three times.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And then more history stepped into view. The story of Empire is the story of men and women who served King and Queen in battle; and there was Hone Tarawhiti, 59, who came to the royal walkabout wearing the medal-festooned black blazer his father Jack Albert wore when he fought with the 28th Maori Battalion.

Hone said, "I thought this morning, 'Well, dad, I'm going to bring you here today because of what you did for our country.' What better spirit to celebrate that with Prince Harry coming to see us."

A cheer went up: The royals had arrived. They made their way in bright sunshine. Meghan wore blue. Harry had his sleeves rolled up. History is never as exciting as things that happen right now; and after Prince Harry reached through the crowd, held a little girl's hand, and moved in, the girl ran to her mum and squealed: "He touched me!"

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

She held her hand by her wrist, and gazed at her palm. Then she stroked the side of her face. She looked at her hand again, still holding it by the wrist like it was an exhibit, and studied it very, very closely.

Discover more

Street view: What do the royals mean to you?

31 Oct 05:19 PM
Royals

Royals visit kiwi hatchery and name two kiwi chicks

31 Oct 12:56 AM
Royals

Hilarious moment PM struggles with giant bouquet for Meghan

31 Oct 01:32 AM
Royals

Crowd delighted as royal couple stroll in the Government Gardens

31 Oct 03:00 PM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Rotorua Daily PostUpdated

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Heating or eating a tough call for some after rates rise, says councillor

02 Jul 09:13 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Armed police block Rotorua street

02 Jul 09:10 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM

A severe thunderstorm watch is in place for the region tonight.

Heating or eating a tough call for some after rates rise, says councillor

Heating or eating a tough call for some after rates rise, says councillor

02 Jul 09:13 PM
Armed police block Rotorua street

Armed police block Rotorua street

02 Jul 09:10 PM
Students cap off 9h endurance challenge by hauling loaded fire truck

Students cap off 9h endurance challenge by hauling loaded fire truck

02 Jul 09:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP