- Kate Middleton, Prince William, George welcomed to New Zealand
SYDNEY, Australia — Britain’s Prince William and his wife, Kate, have arrived in New Zealand’s capital to cheers from locals who braved windy, rainy weather to catch a glimpse of the royal couple.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge landed in the fog-shrouded city of Wellington on Monday along with their baby son, George, to kick off a three-week tour of New Zealand and Australia.
- Prince William and Duchess Kate give Prince George his royal tour debut with traditional welcome to New Zealand
Associated Press and The Telegraph | April 7, 2014 9:13 AM ET
Prime Minister John Key greeted the couple before they were whisked off to Government House where they received a traditional Maori welcome.
William and Kate plan to spend the next few weeks enjoying a wine tasting at a local vineyard, meeting with The Lord of the Ringsdirector Peter Jackson, going on a jet boat ride and visiting Christchurch, which was devastated by an earthquake in 2011.
Kate and William arrive in New Zealand amid a row over their son’s mode of transport.
New Zealand’s national child care advisory agency, Plunket, issued photographs to the media of one of its staff fitting a Maxi-Cosi baby seat into the official car that will transport the royal visitors.
But parents immediately pointed out that the seat, which was chosen by the Duke and Duchess, is forward-facing, despite Plunket’s strict guidelines telling parents to carry children in rear-facing car seats until the age of two, to limit whiplash in an accident.
The manufacturer’s own instructions say the seat, a Maxi-Cosi Tobi, costing up to pounds 260, is to be used for children from about nine months — slightly older than Prince George is now.
The New Zealand Transport Agency states that front-facing seats can be used from “about one year old” and refers parents to the Plunket website, which says “it is safest to keep your baby in a car seat that allows them to be rear-facing until they are at least two years old.” Plunket’s Facebook page was inundated with derisory comments from parents accusing the non-profit organisation of hypocrisy.
Janelle Fletcher said: “If it was any one of us New Zealanders we would have got a horrible look from passers-by?…?is it because they are royals that you seem to think rules don’t apply?”
Nicola May Brooks wrote: “Plunket, there actually is a legal obligation to rear face to 12 months. Read the rules!”
Stung by the criticism, Plunket responded by making it clear that the seat was chosen by the Duke and Duchess, not its own staff. Kensington Palace also confirmed that the seat was “the couple’s choice.”
Jenny Prince, Plunket’s aptly named chief executive, said: “Plunket’s priority is to ensure car seats are installed by qualified car seat technicians to ensure they perform correctly. While Plunket recommend that children stay in rear-facing seats until age two, it is not a legal requirement.”
When Prince William visited Australia and New Zealand in 1983, at a month older than Prince George, he was put in a brown velvet-lined rear-facing car seat.
U.K. laws on child seats say babies can be in forward-facing seats if they weigh 9kg or more.
The row is doubly embarrassing because Plunket, which provides everything from post-natal home visits to play groups and car seat rental, is hosting Prince George’s first full-scale public engagement.
On Wednesday, he and the Duke and Duchess will join other parents and babies at a playgroup in Government House, the home of New Zealand’s Governor-General, with the world’s media in attendance.
The royal party landed in Wellington after flying to Sydney on a scheduled Qantas flight and transferring to a Royal New Zealand Air Force flight for the final leg of the journey. The royal party, including their Spanish nanny, the Duchess’s hairdresser, private secretaries and police guards, is thought to have been given the entire 14-berth first-class cabin aboard the Airbus A380, which took off from Heathrow on Saturday.
The cost of the tickets, which normally sell for around $11,500 return per person, has been paid by the New Zealand government.
The visit has prompted a fresh debate over whether New Zealand should retain the monarchy, with Sir Don McKinnon, the former deputy prime minister and ex-Commonwealth Secretary-General, saying it is “inevitable” that the country will become a republic.
However, latest polls show that only 41 per cent of New Zealanders favour becoming a republic, a figure that is likely to fall after a 10-day visit by the Duke, Duchess and Prince George.
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Inuk Canuck Capnhand • 15 hours ago So we could pay more for a less effective form of government? What a great idea! The Canadian Monarchy costs Canada $1.62 per capita each year. Compare that with France at $4.00 per capita or the States at $7.92 per capita. Republics are more expensive with worse track records.
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We could not have said it better ourselves.
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- The rich man ought not be taxed at all~~Instead, the rich man ought be compelled to employ and train the poor man~~directly~~personally~~man to man~~
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~~In sunshine and in shadow~~I hold tight to the Republican view of time and money~~I write night and day~~yet~~while impecunious~~I am vastly overpaid~~in that taking pay to do what I love is unfair~~to my employer~~in a fair system~~under such circumstances~~I should pay him~~not he me~~I am far, far too old a man to be sexually confused~~praise Jesus~~but I am yet young enough to be politically confused~~is anyone not~~in an absolute sense~~I am a Catholic Royalist~~in a practical sense~~I am a Classical Liberal~~a Gaullist~~a Bonapartist~~an American Nationalist Republican~~in either sense~~my head is soon for the chopping block~~to hasten my interlude with Madame La Guillotine~~I write without fear~and without favor of~any man~~~Non Sibi~~Finis Origine Pendet~~~Κύριε ἐλέησον~~Rejoice and Glad!!
Amen~~
~The Original Angry Bird~~The Catholic University of America Screaming Red Cardinal Mascot~~
~~EX LIBRIS~~
Tuesday, 8th April, Now In Our Quadragesima,~Anno Domini Nostri Iesu Christi, 2014 Website: http://johndanielbegg.wordpress.com
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The Queen
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In office now 62 years on
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Simply the best President we could ever hope to have~~
JOHN DANIEL BEGG 