Prince William arrived in New Zealand today to lend his support to the Lions tour and begin his first official overseas visit.
The Prince will represent the Queen on the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War next week, meeting veterans and laying wreaths in Auckland and Wellington.
He was met at Wellington airport by Helen Clark, the Prime Minister, and the acting Governor-General, Dame Sian Elias, and then made his way through a crowd of hundreds of New Zealanders and tourists.
His next stop was to meet the struggling Lions squad at their hotel, where he attended a photocall and met Sir Clive Woodward, the Lions manager, and representatives from the four countries on tour: Will Greenwood (England), Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland), Gareth Thomas (Wales) and Gordon Bulloch (Scotland).
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The Prince commiserated with O’Driscoll, the Lions captain who dislocated his shoulder last weekend and has been replaced by Thomas.
William will train with the Lions at a kicking session tomorrow with Jonny Wilkinson. Bulloch, the Scottish captain, said that the squad were pleased to have his support. “Hopefully he’ll come out and kick a ball about. He’s meant to be quite good,” he said.
On Saturday, the Prince will watch the Lions try and save their test series in the second match against the All Blacks as a guest of the New Zealand Rugby Football Union. In the first test of three last weekend, the Lions were comprehensively outplayed and beaten 21-3.