Prince Charles has promised to do his best to bring his new wife with him on his next tour of New Zealand.
As he prepared to leave Auckland Botanic Gardens where he formally opened a children's garden yesterday he was swamped with congratulations and best wishes for his controversial marriage
next month to longtime lover and divorcee Camilla Parker Bowles.
"Bring her with you next time," a woman told Prince Charles as he delayed his departure to talk to well-wishers.
"I'll do my very best," he responded, adding that Mrs Parker Bowles had a lot to fit into a busy schedule.
At the gardens, a relaxed Prince Charles turned and responded with a large smile when a group of women yelled: "We love you, Charles."
He later made a point of departing from his route back to his car to talk to the women, telling one she had a good voice which could be heard a long way, before mingling briefly with about 500 supporters.
Earlier the Prince stopped at the Mountain View Primary School in the Auckland suburb of Mangere Bridge.
Outside the school he was mobbed by a bevy of suburban mothers and kissed on the cheek by West Indian Marlene Herriott, a "50-something grandmother" from Trinidad in the West Indies, but now living in South Auckland.
As Charles left the school, he crossed the road to talk to about 50 well-wishers, including Mrs Herriott.
"He asked me if I had kids here [at the school] and I said no.
"I said congratulations on your upcoming marriage and he said, 'Thank you'.
"I said, 'I am so happy for you, let me give you a hug' and I did. He was so happy," Mrs Herriott said after she'd given the Prince a squeeze and kissed him on his left cheek.
"I love the royals. I am a royalist but I don't wave my flags, but I am happy for him.
"He has waited so long for his happiness," said Mrs Herriott of Prince Charles' wedding set down for next month.
Tongan woman Vaikele Moala waited in the sun outside the school for five hours for Prince Charles to arrive.
"Thank you for coming," she cried out, as he greeted her and the other well-wishers.
After Prince Charles shook her hand and joked with her, she said her heart was singing .
Charles asked after the health of the King of Tonga [Taufa'ahau Tupou], she said.
"He [Charles] is very handsome, very warm, very kind. I am happy, he is happy."
At the school Prince Charles visited classrooms and planted a golden totara chosen because it could live for 100 years and because of its association with Maori culture, said Mountain View principal, Sue McLachlan.
He received a spirited powhiri and a welcome in seven languages from the children.
Prince Charles left Auckland yesterday for a one-night stopover in Fiji on his way back to England.
- NZPA
Prince Charles has promised to do his best to bring his new wife with him on his next tour of New Zealand.
As he prepared to leave Auckland Botanic Gardens where he formally opened a children's garden yesterday he was swamped with congratulations and best wishes for his controversial marriage
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.