Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter Sunday for the Cambridge's

     It was a bright and crisp morning in Sydney's city center as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at St. Andrew's Cathedral for Easter Sunday to join 800 fellow worshipers - including Prime Minister Tony Abbot - for a service that commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
      William and Catherine were warmly greeted by crowds that had gathered outside, and were accompanied by the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr. Glenn Davies and the Dean of Sidney, Philip Jensen into the Gothic Revivalist structure, which was designed by Edmund Blacket and consecrated in 1868, making it the oldest cathedral in Australia. Joan Kerr described St. Andrew's as "a perfect example of the colonial desire to reproduce England in Australia in the mid nineteenth century." Indeed, there are hints of Westminster Abbey and York Minster in this building.

      The Duchess was wearing what has been described by some sources as a dove grey Alexander McQueen dress with a matching Jane Taylor hat.
      Following the end of the service, William and Kate signed two very important and historic books: the First Fleet Bible and the First Fleet Book of Common Prayer - so named because they came along with the First Fleet, the group of eleven ships which left Great Britain in 1787 to establish a colony that would eventually become the first European settlement in Australia. That colony was founded as New South Wales in 1788, and it was here that the First Fleet Bible and prayer book were used in the first Christian service held in Australia.

      The Duke and Duchess have followed the tradition of several previous Royal visitors who have added their signatures to the venerable books. 
      Amongst the signatures include: Edward, Prince of Wales in 1920 (the future Edward VIII), Prince Albert, Duke of York (the future George VI) in 1927, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester in 1934 (who became Governor-General of Australia in the 1940's), Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1954, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1958, Princess Alexandra in 1959, Prince Charles and Diana in 1983, and Prince Andrew and Sarah in 1988.

      As reported by journalist Robert Jobson, the Reverend Justin Moffatt of St. Philip's Church (where the Bible and Book of Common Prayer are kept) said that during the signing, Prince William joked that the First Fleet Bible was "in pretty good nick." He further noted that William "seemed very interested" when shown a prayer in the book for George III, and was "rather touched" when he saw the Solemnization of Matrimony page. Regarding the past Royal signatures, the Prince "seemed genuinely touched" to see them there. Indeed, to see these signatures from afar is breathtaking enough.
      Before the Royal visit, Reverend Moffatt commented that he was "very happy that William and Kate have taken time to look, understand, and sign" the books, and said that it was a "pity" that few people knew about them. Perhaps now, the books will receive a bit more attention and appreciation.

     After a break, William and Kate - now joined with Prince George - headed over to the Taronga Zoo, which opened in October 1916 and is located on the shores of Sydney Habour. It is a 52 acre facility that is broken into eight zoo-geographic regions, and is home to over 2,600 animals of 340 species.


     Amongst the animals are bilbies, who are desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores. Officially termed as the "macrotis", the bilby gets its colloquial name from the Yuwaalaraay Aboriginal language of northern New South Wales, and it measns "long-nosed rat." There were once two species of bilby at the time of European colonization, but the lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950's and the greater bilby is endangered.

     It was this type of bilby that the Cambridge's saw when they came to view Taronga Zoo’s new bilby enclosure, which is to be named after Prince George, as well as one of the bilbies. 


     The family knelt down to view the little bilby George, which was running around in its plexiglass enclosure and causing excitement on the part of Prince George, who appeared to take a genuine interest in the animal. At different times, William and Kate were holding George so that he could peer over the plexiglass and have a better look at bibly George. At one point, William kissed his son on the head in a very touching moment.


     When the enclosure was formally dedicated to Prince George, a statue of bilbies was revealed and George could not take his hands off of it. He was then given a stuffed toy bilby, which delighted him greatly as he was bounced up and down by his Dad, Prince William. Yet like most other eight-month-old's, he then decided to throw the toy on the ground, prompting William to say: “He does love it honestly!”

     With this, George's time at the zoo was over, and William handed him over to his nanny. He and Kate then went on a tour of the rest of zoo for themselves.
     Among other things, they spent time with kangaroos and giraffes, and proceeded to feed both of them. William also held a conversation with a keeper about wildlife conservation in Africa, a cause which is very important to him. Later, they journeyed to an outdoor theater for a bird show attended by several other people, including members of the press pack.
      There, the couple were introduced to a bird named Harry, and William laughed when the announcer said: "you can tell by the red hair." Finally, they came down to pet some of the animals, including a koala, to which William joked to the crowd: "this is the moment everyone's been waiting for!"

     And then, after long day in Sydney, the Cambridge's were on the plane to Canberra to bring an end to their Easter Sunday.

     Tomorrow (Easter Monday) will be a rest day for the family, and they will resume official duties on Tuesday.


Photo Credit: Screen shots of the Reuters live stream and Twitter embeds
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)