Royal visit: Revitalised Meghan shines in her own ‘Diana moment’
The Queensland sun came out and so did Meghan, capping a day on Fraser Island that was as close to perfect as you could wish for.
The Queensland sun came out and so did Meghan, capping a day on Fraser Island that was as close to perfect as you could wish for.
If Prince Harry was in any doubt about who the star of this royal tour is, all he need do was to look and listen.
Polite cheers from the crowds he fronted alone for the second day running while his pregnant wife rested up. Near-frenzy when Meghan unexpectedly appeared on his arm, delighting families who had waited for hours in the hope of seeing them together on the jetty at scenic Kingfisher Bay.
The Duchess of Sussex looked mint-fresh in a flowing striped number by US label Reformation that billowed in the sea breeze.
For the first time in public she cupped her belly, a glowing picture of maternal health.
The clock seemed to turn back as the afternoon glare backlit her filmy sundress: it could have been Harry’s late mother, Diana, standing there with the tall, young prince. What a fine couple they make.
They were reunited after the Duke of Sussex toured the vast, sandy island on his own, bumping along rough and ready tracks that would have reinforced the decision for Meghan to take the morning off.
At Pile Valley, he stood beneath centuries-old satinay trees and unveiled an addition to the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy program, a worldwide initiative to protect old growth forests.
“Put simply, without trees and forests, we don’t survive,” he explained.
“It is a symbiotic relationship, and one that so many people still fail to realise.”
Lightening the mood, indigenous elder Molly Clarke cheekily called to him: “You’re even better looking in person.”
At crystal-clear Lake McKenzie, Harry slipped off his boots and walked barefoot in the shallows with Aunty Nai Nai Bird, who explained to him the meaning of country to the island’s indigenous Butchulla people. She told him she wished he could have brought Meghan to the lake, “our special place of beauty and life”.
Instead, the duchess quietly slipped on to the island to meet up with Harry on the jetty at Kingfisher Bay. First to greet the couple was Jada Quinn, 9, who held a sign that read irreverently “Rangas Rule”, alongside sister Ella Quinn, 12, and friends Grace Hoffman, 9, and Eliza Veitch, 10. A smiling Harry told the girls he liked their pineapple T-shirts.
“I like how Meghan stands up for women and their rights,” Ella said.
“I will take that as a compliment,” the abashed prince replied.
Jyleeah Green, 12, set him straight when he asked if the indigenous kids had pet names for the kangaroos that thrive on the World Heritage-listed island. “We don’t give them names — we eat them,” the little girl said.
Meghan stopped to speak with Noeline Walk, 85, who has lived on Fraser Island for 45 years and asked for a steer on what to order for dinner.
“I said seafood, of course,” Mrs Walk laughed.
Sisters Lily and Ebony Reid handed the couple a quilt covered in kangaroos, emus and koalas, which was made by their grandmother, Janice Reid. Harry asked them to thank her.
When Meghan spotted six-year-old Thiviyan Pratheepan holding a card and gift for her, she knelt down and grasped his hands. Shyly, the boy said she was beautiful. After spending the night on the picturesque island, they fly today to Fiji and Tonga, before returning to Sydney on Friday.
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