George the Conqueror

Prince George has conquered public engagements at the age of eight and a half months.  His parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, brought him along to a playdate in Wellington and the little prince took over.  George had a great time, looked really cute and then went off for a nap having won over just about everyone.  That is how to do a royal engagement.

George and Kate steal hearts in New Zealand on the little prince's first public engagement - April 9th 2014

The event, at the Governor General's House in New Zealand, was for the children's organisation Plunket NZ and ten parents with babies of about George's age had been invited along.  Kate told the mums and dads that her little prince did see other babies but never so many at one time.  It didn't seem to bother the future king.  Within moments he was on the floor for a play session and having a great time.

And he's off - Prince George of Cambridge has started crawling and here's the proof

In fact he was having such a good time that the other babies had to work around him.  At one point, mum had to soothe ruffled feathers when George grabbed a toy from a little girl who started crying.  Kate gave her a little pat on the head and all was well.  And when George found the gesture repaid - another girl grabbed one of his toys - he just shrugged it off and went for a crawl.

Prince George meets his public for the first time - they didn't seem to care until he grabbed the toys

Like all royals, George had to do a bit of diplomacy.  His black and white outfit from Rachel Riley - with cute sailing boat motif on the front - was chosen in honour of New Zealand's national colours.

The first of a million outfits chosen to please - George in black and white for his NZ hosts

His mum was also in monochrome - her outfit is Tory Burch, a dress called Paulina and was worn with Cartier earrings.  Prince William did the bloke thing and wore a blue shirt.

Mum and son in black and white - what a team

All royal engagements involve some kind of presentation and Prince George received a couple of presents from his hosts, Plunket NZ.  There was a lovely wish book with handwritten messages of hope for the prince as well as a traditional Plunket NZ teddy bear.

Prince George's first royal presentation - a teddy bear

And then it was off to bed for a nap - not a long one as Kate revealed that her little prince now sleeps through the night and loves solid food.  He also loves eating mum's hair, like every other baby in the world, and gave photographers one more cute shot before he bowed out.

Like every other eight month old in the world, George's favourite snack is his mum's hair

One engagement down, a whole lifetime of them left to go.  On this evidence, Prince George is more than ready.