Fifth visit to Dunedin for Prince of Wales

Prince Charles in Alexandra on his way to a fishing weekend in Wanaka.
Prince Charles in Alexandra on his way to a fishing weekend in Wanaka.
Mrs Sheelagh Wood, of Twizel, holds 5-month-old Matthew in front of a smiling Prince Charles.
Mrs Sheelagh Wood, of Twizel, holds 5-month-old Matthew in front of a smiling Prince Charles.
Prince Charles waves his trencher after receiving an honorary doctor of literature degree from...
Prince Charles waves his trencher after receiving an honorary doctor of literature degree from the University of Otago.
Prince Charles talks to Otago Boys' High School rector Donald MacLachlan. In the background, the...
Prince Charles talks to Otago Boys' High School rector Donald MacLachlan. In the background, the Princess of Wales signs a visitors' book, as Dunedin Mayor Cliff (later Sir Clifford) Skeggs looks on.
Charles and Diana meet the people in George St, Dunedin.
Charles and Diana meet the people in George St, Dunedin.
Department of Conservation ranger Lyndon Perriman with the prince at the Royal Albatross Centre.
Department of Conservation ranger Lyndon Perriman with the prince at the Royal Albatross Centre.
Prince Charles shears a sheep at Moutere Station, Central Otago, with some help from shearer...
Prince Charles shears a sheep at Moutere Station, Central Otago, with some help from shearer Peter Casserley.

Prince Charles arrives in Dunedin on Thursday with the Duchess of Cornwall. David Loughrey looks back on some of the prince's previous visits.

April 1983 must be considered the very apex of princely visits to Dunedin.

''Royalty In City'' the banner headline read in the Otago Daily Times, with the sub-heading ''Patriotism high, hearts fluttering''.

It was quite certainly not Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor who had ''romantic hearts'' fluttering on that visit, it was the ''demure Diana, Princess of Wales'' who warmed up a cool day in Dunedin, according to reports of the time.

''Despite the damp, dull conditions, Princess Diana, dressed in a peacock blue outfit, delighted children and grown-ups as she chatted, smiled and moved radiantly among the crowds.''

On that occasion, the couple walked from Moray Pl to the Octagon, where shop assistants, office workers, parents, children and elderly citizens had taken up most shop verandas, windows, traffic lights and other vantage points to see the show.

The princess was described as ''immaculate in every respect''.

She was ''demure and dutiful''.

''While her husband spoke, she sat perfectly still, ankles crossed, hands clasped.''

Two years earlier, in 1981, Prince Charles came to the city alone, and while his visit made the front-page lead, other weighty issues jostled for the attention of Dunedin readers.

In a portent of things to come, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union was reported as showing ''a unified front'' in favour of a South African rugby tour later that year.

Delegates at the union's annual meeting were unanimous in supporting the tour.

Also on the front page that day, Hugh Fletcher, of Fletcher Challenge, was promising the Dunedin Rotary Club a planned aluminium smelter and strip mill at Aramoana would produce 25,000 jobs in New Zealand.

But the prince had a warm welcome to the city during his April visit, receiving an honorary doctor of literature degree from the University of Otago chancellor, the Very Rev Dr J. S. Somerville.

''Witty Speech Delights Audience'' a headline read.

The prince's schedule published in the newspaper ''for the information of citizens'' showed a ''Slow Drive through Mosgiel'' before a ''walk among the people'' in the Octagon.

In 1974, the prince was in Otago after the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, fishing at Lake Wanaka, where he caught five brown trout.

Prince Charles first visited New Zealand and Dunedin in March 1970, as a 21-year-old, and was here last in 2005, shortly before he married Camilla Parker Bowles.

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