Royal Tour, Commence! The Cambridges Arrive in New Zealand

IT’S FINALLY HERE! After months of excitement (on our end) and a day+ of traveling (on their end) the royal tour of New Zealand and Australia has officially begun!

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge arrived in Wellington, New Zealand at 11:45 am local time….Monday, April 7th. Yes, I’m blogging from the future. After traveling for 27-hours, taking a commercial Qantas flight from London to Sydney via Dubai, the royals took a three hour Royal Air Force New Zealand to dreary, rainy Wellington.

William, Kate and George board RAFNZ plane in Sydney for Wellington. Kate repeated her Max Mara dress while William carried her bags (black Longchamp) and George’s stuffed kangaroo.

Making their way through Sydney airport

After a slight delay of about 20 minutes due to poor weather conditions, the royal plane touched down and the royal trip emerged looking cute as ever. The Duchess of Cambridge looked very Jackie Kennedy in a red (finally called a color right!) Catherine Walker dress and Gina Foster pillbox hat, polished off with The Queen’s diamond and platinum silver fern brooch, given to Her Majesty in 1954 on a visit to the nation. The best part of her outfit, however, was a very unimpressed looking Prince George who donned a cardigan and bloomers for the arrival. William wore the same navy suit and maroon tie.

Reuters Live Stream

The group then departed for Government House, home of Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae where they received a ceremonial welcome known as a Powhiri. While mom and dad took part in the grand, traditional welcome the airport arrival was it for George’s appearances…unless you count him looking on from a window!

Via Emily Andrews, The Sun – Twitter @byEmilyAndrews

Via Emily Andrews, The Sun – Twitter @byEmilyAndrews

The family traveled with quite the entourage, including the couple’s private secretaries, three press officers, a personal assistant, a tour secretary, Kate’s hairdresser, an orderly, their advisor Sir David Manning and last but certainly not least, Prince George’s new nanny, Maria Borrollo. Talk about hitting the ground running with a new job!

After an exhausting journey, The Cambridges will have time to recoup before the madness truly begins on April 9.

The rest of the tour goes as follows: 

New Zealand

• Wellington (April 7, 9, 16)
• Blenheim (April 10)
• Auckland (April 11)
• Hamilton and Cambridge (April 12)
• Dunedin (April 13)
• Queenstown (April 13)
• Christchurch (April 14)

Australia

• Sydney (April 16, 18, 20)
• Blue Mountains (April 17)
• Brisbane (April 19)
• Uluru (Ayer’s Rock) (April 22)
• Adelaide (April 23)
• Canberra, (April 24 and 25)

For a very detailed look at the full diary, check out Royal Central.

The official hashtags for the tour are #RoyalTourNZ and #RoyalTourAus. And of course, make sure you’re following the trusty royal press pack for updates over the next three weeks.Remember, time zones are NOT our friends on this one people… and although I love the royals, I love my sleep more. So, there you have it – follow the pros!

Christmas in April

That’s exactly what it feels like right now – Christmas. Tomorrow (well, technically the day after tomorrow but for us East Coasters, it’s really tomorrow), The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive in Wellington, New Zealand with Prince George for a three week tour of Australia and New Zealand. Just think about the photos, videos and anecdotes that will come out of this tour. I can’t, so many activities my head is spinning.

To say the anticipation for this has been high would legitimately be the understatement of the century. More than 450 accredited media will be joining the world’s most adorable family on the historic tour. Couple that with the time difference (Sydney is 14 hours ahead of New York, Auckland is 16), and it will be next to impossible to keep up with. So here’s my fair warning, as much as I’d like to do nothing but royal watch until April 25th, that’s not happening. I will tweet as much as I can and do recap posts, but there are much better resources out there than me.

How does one keep up? With the help of this expert crew. Here is a list of some of the best royal journalists to add to your Twitter lists for the tour:

Max Foster, CNN

Paul Harrison, Sky News

Richard Palmer, Daily Express

Rebecca English, Daily Mail

Simon Perry, People Magazine

Gordon Rayner, The Telegraph

Victoria Murphy, Daily Mirror

Emily Andrews, The Sun

Robert Jobson, here there and everywhere

Arthur Edwards, if you don’t known who he is you have no business on this blog 😉

Chris Jackson, Getty Images

Mark Stewart, Photographer

James Whatling, Photographer

Like I said, there are more than 400 media on the ground tracking every smile, every time William puts his hand on the small of Kate’s back and waiting for George to roll over on a picnic blanket, but these guys are the ultimate. Don’t forget to keep up with Royal Central and WhatKateWore because you know they will be on point with every detail!

Get your sleep tonight royal watchers, with dreams of chubby cheeks and tiaras dancing in your heads.