A "real royalist" was inadvertently quite rude to a member of the royal family staying in Wanganui.
Springvale resident Sandra Munro had some close encounters with Prince Edward, the Earl of Essex, when he was at Wanganui Collegiate School in late 1982 and early 1983. Later she discovered "the Mormon" she had been rude to was actually the prince.
That filled her with dismay, because Mrs Munro is a fan of all things royal.
She said she would likely follow Prince William and his wife Catherine if they come to Wanganui during their nine-day visit to New Zealand in April. That's unlikely, because Wellington, Auckland and Cambridge/Hamilton are looking like their only North Island destinations.
But they should come to Wanganui, Mrs Munro said.
"The rest of the family has been here. The Queen has been here. Charles and Diana have been here."
Mrs Munro has a sizeable collection of royal memorabilia - cups, plates, books, garments, flags - even a teaspoon in memory of Prince William's birth.
She was brought up in Blackburn, Lancashire. The royal family visited Blackburn every few years when she was growing up, and it was always an occasion for celebration.
She remembers waiting in the street for a glimpse of the royals as a child - and the parties afterward.
"It was fantastic for us kids back in the early 1950s. There was very little money so everybody mucked in and there was big street parties."
Mrs Munro and her family have spent various periods of time in Wanganui. They were living in Springvale Rd in late 1982, when Prince Edward spent two terms at Wanganui Collegiate School as a house tutor and junior master.
Her first encounter with the prince was one day when she was walking to the nearest supermarket on Victoria Ave in a hurry. The supermarket was a Woolworths in those days.
Dawdling on the path in front of her were three men in black suits.
"Bloody Mormons," she thought, and barged and elbowed her way through them.
She heard one of them say to another: "You wanted to be treated as normal. She treated you as normal."
Soon after she was looking at sausages at Woolworths when the prince came up behind her.
"They looked like nice sausages," he said. "They had better be, because I always get them," she told him crossly.
She thought the Mormons had been following her, and asked the young man why. Did he have a problem, or did she have a smell about her?
After that he used to run past her house with the Collegiate boys. On one day when she was out in the garden he stopped running to talk to her, and said it was a beautiful day.
She replied very shortly, thinking she was being hounded. The prince's bodyguard said to him: "She's really giving you the works".
She thought no more about it, but noticed the same young man would sometimes honk his horn when driving past. Obviously he enjoyed being treated as normal, she concluded.
She didn't realise who he was until another day when she was angry, late for work and cut across the Collegiate grounds on her way to Wanganui Hospital.
She noticed a big crowd standing at a corner. She thought no more about it until the prince drove past, very slowly, and wound his window down.
"Well love, you've had your fun. I'm going home now," he said to her.
Suddenly it dawned on her who the "Mormon" was.
"I thought "Good God, I've been rude to royalty. What if his mother finds out?"