The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge touched down here in
Tuvalu’s capital ‘city’ of Funafuti at about 2pm local time and just in time
for the rain to stop, temporarily! The
crowd to welcome them had been growing since noon – our little pose were some
of the first! It was quite a sight to behold… the local people (and some of us)
were dressed in traditional wear including head dresses made from frangipani
flowers and skirts made from a local palm fronds.
Everyone was colourful and eager to welcome the Royal
Couple.
As the crowds lined the runway and looked to the skies to be
the first to spot the plane. Once it
landed, which was dramatic as they came to a halt impressively quickly, the
procession of local muscular men carrying the throne platform that had been
specially made for the occasion – there wasn’t one just lying around!!
Once the platform was in position we then all held our
breaths for the first sight of the infamous pair and the obvious question on a
lot of lips was “What will she be wearing?” We weren’t disappointed she looked
very lovely in a lemon yellow dress and pretty wedges – one of 2 costume
changes through the day! They were carried then to the Vaiaku manepa, which is
the community hall next to the airport where the welcome really began with
procession and introduction to local dignitaries, the chiefs from the outer
islands (some of which I shared a large boat with last week), ministers from
the Government, the governor general and the prime minister and the police
force were all decked out in dress uniforms.
Both of them were so happy to chat and smiled warmly at everyone that
they met.
After entering the falekaupule the speeches began and we
were lucky enough to have almost front row view - well of the people that were
outside the hall!
It was nice and not too long which was handed as shortly
after it began the rain started again! So we all took shelter and the ‘wet
weather schedule’ was put into motion, which meant that instead of riding in
the platform that they had put in the back of an flatbed they would be off to
the next stop on their whistle-stop tour in the one of the nice government
vehicles! The next stop was the primary school at Nauti and then to the
University of South Pacific. We walked
down just in time to see them getting ready to leave after meeting with all the
students, and saw them getting into the fancy platform that had joined up with
them after the rain had finally passed. We totally accidentally but very
fortuitously were in a great spot for a very up-close view of them!
It was very exciting especially as Sandra and William’s eyes
met!
Then they went to watch the traditional canoe race which all
nine islands had made local boats for and were represented. Sadly 3 of the boats sank before finishing
but the Nui’s boat which we’d seen last week on our Boat Trip to the outer
islands (another blog entry to follow on that!) finished in the top 3! This was
it being loaded on the transport boat…
After the boat race was the feast which were weren’t able to
get access to. But my Tuvaluan sister, Masi was there serving and as it
transpired she was fanning the Duke’s food and features in a photo that I found
on the telegraph’s website (click to see).
After the feast came the fatele which is a traditional event
involving different island’s people trying to out sing and dance each
other. There were some amazing
moments Princess Kate was such a good
sport taking part in all elements of the tradition, dancing, allowing herself to
be dressed up with the local skirts and head-dress, spraying the dancers with
perfume to express her approval and gratitude, at one point she was wondering
around the dancers and she was encouraged to sit down on the floor whilst the
other ‘island’ had their turn, and she didn’t even hesitate! She was less than
5 metres away from me!
As most of you know I’ve never been a strong supporter of
the royals (understatement!) but after watching her and then him join
in last night it was hard not to admire them.
I don’t think I could sit, smile, look interested and actually BE
interested for hours on end, all the while still being good-spirited and
looking so comfortable! They were very
nice and all the locals I’ve spoken to that met them have said how
down-to-earth and genuine they were. It
was so great to be part of the Tuvaluan people showing off the culture that
they are all so proud of and actually is part of their daily lives,
The final event this morning before they left at about
9.30am was another smaller fatele and the gift giving ceremony. Amongst the many gifts of traditional mats
etc there were two models that the students of the secondary school on Vaitupu
at made. We were lucky enough to get to
see these models, during construction when we visited Vaitupu last week. They were intricate and very beautiful and
the royals seemed suitably impressed.
And then that was it they were carried back to the plane in the same throne platform they arrived on and we were allowed to get really close for the final ways before they got on the plane. One of the cameramen that is here is doing filming for a documentary for ITV which is due to be aired on Sunday, this week, and he said that in all his years “in the biz” we had just experienced unprecedented access to the royals! It was really, really nice to be part of it!
And there they were gone…
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