“Hands up if you like school,” Prince William asked the group of 70 girl guides aged 4 to 17.
“Some of the young ones put up their hands but not us seniors,” 13-year-old Brianna Sten told me very excited after she had been chatting to The Duke, or “Will” as she and her friends now know him.
The Duke and Duchess were visiting Winmalee, an area devastated by bush fires last year, to thank the firefighters and pay tribute to the indomitable spirit of this close knit community in the Blue Mountains. And their visit was held at the Girl Guides Hall. “He said to me ‘It’s okay I didn’t really like school either,” Brianna goes on. “Then he high-fives me. I high-fived with Will. It’s amazing!”
Her friend Nicola Cook, also 13, was equally enamoured with Prince William. “I said ‘What’s the wombat’s name (referring to the giant soft toy wombat given to Prince George by the Governor-general at Admiralty House last night)’, and he said ‘It hasn’t got one. Would you like to name it?’ To which Nicola replied ‘yes please, call her Nicola.’
“‘But what if it’s boy?’ the Duke replied. ‘Then you can call it Nick,'” said Nicola chuckling.
Di Strahan, the district manager at Winmalee Girl Guides, known to her girls as Gunedoo, the Aboriginal name for one of the three sisters turned into stone in the
Blue Mountains landmark which the couple were due to visit next, first got wind of the royal visit six weeks ago when the palace asked if they could use the guide hall.
“I didn’t know what it was for and I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone. I had this huge secret to keep. Then later they told me the girls would be involved in the visit and I was thrilled.”
Di’s granddaughter Gracie, the youngest girl guide age four, spent some quality time with the Duchess who immediately spied her and crouched down to chat.
“Gracie was really shy and Catherine asked her ‘Are those flowers for me?’ She managed to say yes and handed her the bouquet of daisies and lilies. It was lovely,” says Di.
It is a scorching day here in the Mountains and surrounding the hall, charred black tree trunks have started to sprout green leaves. The Duke and Duchess helped with that regeneration with the ceremonial planting of a flowering red gum. It was a poignant moment and a day the residents of Winmalee who turned out in their hundreds to see the royal couple are not likely to forget.
