Prince George’s First Royal Playdate
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James Whatling-Pool/Getty Images(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) — Prince George crawled and played his way to a series of firsts Wednesday, his first major royal engagement on his first overseas trip with his parents, Prince William and Kate Middleton, in New Zealand.
The young prince, just eight-months-old, held court, literally, at a playgroup held in his honor in Wellington, New Zealand, the first stop on the Royal family’s three and a half week tour of Australia and New Zealand.
The playgroup, held at Wellington’s Government House, was organized by the non-profit childcare group Plunket and included a diverse mix of first-time parents and babies around George’s age, all specially selected to show New Zealand’s diverse society. The group of first-time parents included two gay dads.
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“He is a lovely little boy, very intrepid,” one of the dads said of George.
George, wearing “sailboat smocked dungarees” by the British designer Rachel Riley over a white collared shirt, was accompanied to his playgroup by his mom, Kate, wearing a Tory Burch dress, and his dad, Prince William.
The young royal drew comparisons to William, who himself traveled Down Under 31 years ago as a 9-month-old with his own parents, Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.
“He owned the place basically,” one parent attendee said of George. “He went into the middle of the circle of toys. He hunted for the biggest toy [and] propped himself up.”
George will reportedly remain in Wellington under the care of his nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, as his parents make day trips around the country in the coming days.
On Thursday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will attend a wreath laying ceremony at a war memorial in Blenheim and later tour one of the world’s largest collections of World War One aircraft and rare memorabilia.
Kate and William will get a chance for a date night out later that evening at a State Reception in their honor at Wellington’s a Government House, where William will also unveil a portrait his grandmother, the Queen.
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