Anticipation building ahead of royal visit

  • Breaking
  • 08/11/2012

By 3 News online staff

Prince Charles and Camilla are about to hit New Zealand after a whirlwind tour that's included Papua New Guinea and Australia.

Members of the royal family have been visiting the Queen's overseas realms during the diamond jubilee year.

Among those looking forward to the arrival of the Prince of Wales and his wife is Sean Palmer, the chairman of Monarchy New Zealand.

“it’s been a very long process, they’ve been constructing this tour for the better part of a year… when Charles and Camilla go anywhere they bring a lot of attention with them so a lot of details have to be thought out well in advance,” he told Firstline this morning.

Mr Palmer says the royals negotiate where they wish to travel.

“A lot of the itinerary is directly geared towards Charles and Camilla’s interests, their charities and patronages, but of course they both have a great interest in New Zealand in general, so I’m sure they’d be very happy to go pretty much anywhere that they were requested in New Zealand,” he says.

Mr Palmer says New Zealanders should not worry about formal protocol too much if they meet the royals, saying Charles and Camilla are very informal.

He says there is a large amount of anticipation ahead of the royal tour.

“Shortly the world’s attention will be focused on New Zealand and that’s a great thing for New Zealand, for our tourism, for our industry, for our arts and culture,” he says.

The royal couple will spend six days in New Zealand, visiting Christchurch, Auckland, Wellington and the Manawatu township of Feilding.

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source: newshub archive