Team New Zealand sailors Blair Tuke and Peter Burling were given the royal treatment in Parliament on Tuesday morning and were snapped by assistant speaker of the house Trevor Mallard trying out the speaker's chair ahead of the America's Cup Parade in Wellington at midday.
The former America's Cup minister, who is a yachting enthusiast, knows the sailors from his time in Bermuda watching Team NZ race and gave them a tour of Parliament and the Beehive.
The team was then given a public welcome on Parliament's steps, with Burling showing off the shiny America's Cup. He and other team members were then driven along Lambton Quay and Willis St before the parade finished at Civic Square.
