The bad news, they didn’t bring him to join in the wonderful surf carnival that took place on the beach today in honour of the royal couple.
Kara Blackley, 14, who was on the sand when the couple arrived spoke to the Duchess about Prince George’s absence.
“She said she wished she could have brought George as he would have loved it here, but he was asleep when they left.”
Accompanied by one of our most prominent surf lifesavers and a fervent royalist, Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Kate and Will were in their element today, welcomed with screams and cheers and a level of excitement I haven’t yet seen on the tour.
It was helped by a spectacular Good Friday on Sydney’s famous surf beach with waves crashing, the sky blue and the sun streaming down on the 12,000-strong crowd.
Three lads from North Steyne Surf Lifesaving Club, Jacob Wroughton,15, Andrew Carse, 14 and Kai Brandson, 14, were pumped with anticipation.
They were part of the 90-strong contingent of kids chosen to display their surf lifesaving prowess on the sand and in the water.
“I like Will best,” Andrew told me. “And George too. He’s cool ,” Kai chipped in. The boys got their surf lifesaving badges a year ago having been with their clubs since they were six years old.
Jacob Wroughton,15, Andrew Carse, 14 and Kai Brandson, 14.
As has been the case wherever they’ve been, choppers overhead heralded the Duke and Duchess’s arrival. The cheers were deafening and when they came down onto the sand Prince William was still in his jacket and Catherine sporting sky high wedges.
She must have been longing to slip them off, but still managed an impressive run across the beach when she found herself on the wrong side of a race that the children had staged.
The couple split to greet the crowds and children on either side of the beach. Andrew cried “Oh My God,” when he saw Prince William heading in his direction and not only scored a hand shake but a few words too.
“I asked him if it’s cool to be a royal and have this many people here to see you,” he tells me. William replied “No mate, they’re here for you not me. He was amazing.”
Naomi Flood, 28, a coach and Olympic kayaker who showed the Duke around, said: “We talked about him surfing, and he said he is not very good. He said he goes down to Cornwall and has done some surfing there, and a little bit in Portugal, but he said he just flounders in the shallows,” adding, “We talked about George being a bit messy and drooling everywhere. Kate is just beautiful, we saw the crowd erupt when she walked near to them. They seem really normal people living in a totally different world to the rest of us.
“He was concerned about the breakers we saw, a couple of the kids were getting pummelled and I said it was trickier than usual.”
Grace Gurr, 13, from Manly also chatted to William. “He told me he had been surfing before and would love to try it here. He said if they lived here he would definitely put George in life surfing club and he [the Duke] would be a first aider on the water but would probably drown himself,” she says laughing.
Everywhere the royal couple turned there were groups of people calling their names eager to attract them. At one point the kids on the beach burst into a spontaneous “We love Will,” chant.
As they left the crowds started applauding and the royal couple broke into broad smiles. This was clearly a taste of Aussie life they couldn’t get enough of.
Juliet Rieden awaiting the royals on Manly Beach.
