A royal arrival in New Zealand

It's not even six full months since the last royal visit there but New Zealand has two more regal guests after the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall touched down in rainy Wellington at the start of a twelve day tour that will also take them to Australia.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall with the Governor General of New Zealand, Sir Jerry Materparae, and his wife, Lady Janine

(photo Clarence House Instagram)

The royal couple touched down in Wellington in wet and windy weather - cue Camilla with a brolly and headscarf and Charles marching briskly across the runway for the first official welcome.

View image | gettyimages.com

 

Then it was off to Government House for the formal welcome where Sir Jerry Materparae, Governor General, and his wife, Lady Janine, threw open their doors to royal visitors for the third time in eighteen months.
 

With the raining coming down over Wellington, it was a shorter welcome at Government House for Their Royal Highnesses #RoyalVisitNZ

A photo posted by Governor-General of NZ (@govgeneralnz) on Nov 3, 2015 at 5:54pm PST

There were reminders of one of those previous visits on show when the Prince of Wales received honours on his arrival at Government House. As Charles was presented with the honorary rankings of Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal New Zealand Navy, Field Marshall of the New Zealand Army and Marshall of the Royal New Zealand Air Force the citation rested alongside a photo of three rather familiar people.

(photo Governor General NZ Instagram)

And just as one the two most recent royal visits, this tour took the guests to the National War Memorial in Wellington where Charles and Camilla laid a wreath and then placed ferns in memorial of those who lost their lives in conflict.

Prince Charles & Duchess of Cornwall arrive at Pukeahu National War Memorial. #RoyalVisitNZ pic.twitter.com/mHN7MT0Lhp

— Wgtn City Council (@WgtnCC) November 4, 2015

The Duchess of Cornwall wore a cream design by Anna Valentine with a Philip Treacy hat for most of the day - when it got really windy, the hat was tucked away and her cream scarf doubled as headwear.

Final route for Wellington’s Commonwealth Walkway announced at unveiling by Prince Charles. #royalvisitnz pic.twitter.com/U0k2w3Q7jW

— Wgtn City Council (@WgtnCC) November 4, 2015

Camilla was absent from the State reception which ended day one of this tour. Instead, Prince Charles toasted his hosts and helped them get one over on their Australian neighbours with the Governor General telling guests he was sorry the heir to the throne would miss celebrating his birthday (November 14th) in New Zealand but that Australia needed cheering up following the rugby result of last weekend's World Cup final.

View image | gettyimages.com

 

Day two of the tour will see Charles and Camilla head to Dunedin.