Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle replicated a moment by Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip from 50 years ago when they greeted well-wishers in Fiji on Tuesday.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry yesterday arrived in Fiji for the next leg of their first royal tour together, and their visit is a sweet callback to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip’s own visit to the country in 1953.
Royal commentator Omid Scobie pointed out a significant comparison with the couple’s appearance at the Grand Pacific Hotel, tweeting, “History repeating itself. Harry and Meghan’s balcony appearance at the @Grand_Pac_Hotel this evening and the Queen and Prince Philip’s,” which took place on December 28, 1953.
Earlier that evening, the pair attended a state banquet dinner together where the Duchess showed off her baby bump in a blue, caped dress. The mom-to-be — who announced her pregnancy earlier this month — cradled her midsection as she stood close to her husband.
Prince Harry opened up during a welcome ceremony where he noted that the trip had him feeling “particularly nostalgic … as a young married couple” with Meghan because the Queen and Prince Philip, “stayed in this very hotel, the Grand Pacific, a number of times over the years.”
The visit comes during the couple’s first international tour together after tying the knot at Windsor Castle in England in May. The Queen, 92, for her part, visited the location as part of her overseas tour following her coronation.
On Wednesday, Prince Harry will lay a wreath at the Fiji War Memorial, and meet a number of Fijian war veterans, some of whom served with the British Armed Forces. He will then travel to Colo-i-Suva Forest Park, while Duchess Meghan will move on to the British High Commissioner’s Residence. Colo-i-Suva is an indigenous forest site housing many flora and fauna native to Fiji, and species including the Fiji Tree Frog. It is also Fiji’s dedication to The Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy.
The Duchess will attend a morning tea at the British High Commissioner’s Residence to showcase women’s organisations which operate throughout Fiji. In particular, she will hear more about a UN Women’s project, ‘Markets for Change’, which promotes women’s empowerment in marketplaces throughout the Pacific. The Duchess will then travel to Suva Market to meet some of the female vendors who have become empowered through the project.