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Saturday, November 03, 2012

PNG crowd welcomes royals

By Eoin Blackwell,
AAP Papua New Guinea Correspondent


A crowd of several thousand has turned up at Port Moresby's Jackson's
Airport to witness the arrival of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess
of Cornwall in Papua New Guinea.
Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, have just landed on a Royal
Australian Air Force plane to begin a 13-day tour of the Southern
Hemisphere to mark Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee.
The royals are to be met with a 21 gun salute and will be greeted by
200 school children dressed in traditional PNG attire.
The children, or pikinis in pidgin, will be greeting nambawan pikini
bilong misis kwin (number one child of the Queen) with a Hiri dance -
a traditional dance performed as part of a trading ritual by coastal
peoples who live near Port Moresby.
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Outside the official welcoming area, the crowd let off a cheer as
members of the defence force entered the grounds.
Prince Charles and the Duchess are expected to be cheered by 550
school children from around Port Moresby as they travel to meet
Governor-General Sir Michael Ogio on Saturday evening.
The royal duo will spend the next three days touring in and around the
capital, visiting a nearby village and participating in an ecumenical
church service and cultural display in Port Moresby.
It will be Prince Charles's fourth visit to the Pacific island nation
since he was a schoolboy in 1966.
It will be the Duchess of Cornwall's first trip to PNG.
The Prince and the Duchess leave PNG on Monday for Australia.
Prince Charles is expected to celebrate his 64th birthday in New
Zealand on November 14.

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