Welcome to Australia Prince Harry
Prince Harry arrived in a flashing motorcade up War Memorial Drive to a crowd of more than a thousand fans.
Governor-General Peter Cosgrove and his wife Lynne were waiting in a small official line up to meet the Royal VIP.
When Harry stepped out of the car a roar went up from the crowd and spontaneous applause. The Prince looked incredibly dashing with no sign of tiredness from his 22-hour hop from the UK.
He was wearing the No 1Dress Uniform of the Household Cavalry, his unit back home. In a crisp white jacket, peaked cap, black trousers with a rich red stripe and boots with silver spurs Harry looked every inch the officer and gentleman.
He gave a cheeky grin and wave to the crowd and then shook hands with the Governor-General and other officials before heading inside the War Memorial to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider and tour the World War I and Afghanistan Galleries.
Harry arrives in Canberra this morning.
Inside Harry signed the visitors’ book following a host of other royal signatures -from William and Kate, The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall. Dr Brendan Nelson, Director of the War Memorial, had a special gift for Prince Harry -a box made from a sapling grown from a pine cone from Gallipoli’s Lone Pine.
Later this month the Prince will fly to Turkey to join his father, Prince Charles, for the Centenary commemorations of the Gallipoli landings. “Prince Harry fully appreciates the significance of commemoration in this centenary year of the Gallipoli campaign,” says a Palace spokesman.
Fans eagerly awaiting Prince Harry’s arrival.
“Prince Harry has been to Australia twice before, so he knows he is in for a great experience” says a Kensington Palace spokesman. It’s not an official royal visit so Harry is not accompanied by the usual royal retinue, instead he will be treated like any other junior officer in the army. For the next month he’ll be known as Captain Harry Wales and following his morning at the War Memorial will be reporting for duty at Duntroon.
“Prince Harry is tremendously looking forward to starting his four week attachment with the ADF. It has been an opportunity he has been keen to explore for a couple of years now and is delighted to be able to do it before completing his military service with the British Armed Forces later this year,” said a spokesman.
“Prince Harry has trained and served alongside Australian Armed Forces on operational tours to Afghanistan; he has met them during the Invictus Games; and even trekked to the South Pole with a couple of Australian Soldiers. Those experiences reinforced the huge admiration and respect he already had for Australian servicemen and women and has stoked his enthusiasm even more to build on those relationships in the next four weeks.
“He knows he will learn a huge amount from his Australian colleagues during this attachment and he is grateful to the ADF for producing such a varied and interesting programme for him.
“Captain Wales is also hoping he will be able to share some of his knowledge and experiences of 10 years military service in the Army which has seen him carry out a number of different roles from Commanding an Apache aircraft to organising the Invictus Games, and undertaking two tours of duty in Afghanistan.
“He is also looking forward to learning how wounded, injured and ill servicemen and women are supported here in Australia and hopes to pass on some of his experience from his current role in the UK (working with the Ministry of Defence’s Personnel Recovery Unit to ensure those who are injured or sick during their service have the best possible support to recover.)”
