Meghan the star as Pacific tour ends

Prince Harry and pregnant wife Meghan visited the New Zealand resort town of Rotorua yesterday to wrap up a lengthy Pacific tour which has confirmed the star appeal of Britain’s newest royal. Meghan, displaying what Harry affectionately refers to as “our little bump”, has drawn adoring crowds in Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand on her first international tour since the couple married in May.

The American-born former actress and her husband attended 76 engagements over 16 days in the former British colonies, with Meghan sometimes changing designer outfits four times in a single day. While they observed the inevitable formalities with prime ministers and other dignitaries, members of the public who met the touring royals said they came across as down-to-earth and personable.

Meghan did not stand on ceremony, happily participating in a “welly-wanging” (gumboot throwing) competition, halting their royal entourage several times to give shy toddlers a cuddle and bringing her home-made banana bread to afternoon tea in outback Dubbo. “They were very nice, chatty and relaxed,” was a typical assessment, offered by teenager Milan Chapman after she met them in New Zealand’s South Island.

The tour opened with the bombshell announcement that Meghan was expecting the couple’s first baby early next year, sparking fears she would be vulnerable to Zika virus in Fiji and Tonga. But the World Health Organization reported there had been no cases this year on the islands of the mosquito-borne virus, which can cause deformities in unborn babies, and the leg of the trip went ahead unchanged. Meghan proved so popular in Fiji that her minders whisked her away from an engagement at a Suva market, fearing it was becoming overcrowded.