Britain’s Prince George will take part in his first royal engagement tomorrow (09.04.14).
The eight-month-old prince will join his parents Prince William and Duchess Catherine at a parent and baby coffee group at Government House in Wellington, New Zealand, and the 10 families who will share time with the family during the session are very excited.
Ingrid and David Alve were stunned when senior Plunket nurse Tina Symes invited them to the event with their eight-month-old daughter Eden.
Ingrid said: "We were quite surprised – delighted obviously – but it was a bit surreal, a tiny corner of the country and they called us."
And Eden will be taking along her toy bunny rabbit, which they named George in honour of the prince.
David told the New Zealand Herald newspaper: "Hopefully George will play with it."
Another parent, Kate Bainbridge, will take along her eight-month-old daughter Sophie and admitted some of her friends were "jealous" of their invitation.
She said: "I’ve had a few jealous looks from other parents when they found out we were meeting the duke and duchess.
"Even though we come from a very different background we have got a lot in common with the duke and duchess because we’ve been through the sleepless nights and we can talk to them about our experiences.
"We are all first-time parents, like them, so it should be quite easy to chat to them."
Ms. Symes was tasked with choosing the families to join the session and selected babies born in July, the same as George, in an even split of genders and a range of backgrounds to reflect the community.
Tristine Clark, New Zealand president of Plunket, said: "The parents are a spread of all the communities in New Zealand, including Maoris, Samoans, people of Chinese descent and gay couples.
"This is a very multi-cultural country and we wanted the Duke and Duchess to meet people from all backgrounds."
Prince George to take first royal duty
