Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Hip-Hop and Skateboards for the Cambridge's in Adelaide

     After a day in the outback (and a night under the stars), the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge continued their tour of Australia to the city of Adelaide, capital city of the state of South Australia, which is named for Queen Adelaide, the wife of William IV of the United Kingdom. South Australia itself has the distinction of sharing a border with all of the other Australian states and territories.

     The Royal couple landed at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base at Edinburgh, and met leading dignitaries on the tarmac, including South Australia's Governor - Kevin Scarce, and Premier - Jay Weatherill. Kate wore a dusty pink Alexander McQueen outfit, whilst William was in a navy suit and maroon tie.
      From there, they were driven to the town of Elizabeth, a suburb of Adelaide, which was formed on November 16, 1955, and named after Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, who had visited in the previous year during her tour of the Commonwealth.

     On this day, the primary focus of the visit was about Adelaide's youth population. The town of Elizabeth alone suffers from a 19.7% youth unemployment rate, and William and Kate wanted to observe the activities, programs, and initiatives that are taking place to improve their lot.

     Their first stop was at the Northern Sound System, a youth focused community music center and workshop in Elizabeth, which offers courses, mentoring, and inspiration to young residents with musical aspirations. The Duke and Duchess conversed with the people benefiting from the center and looked on as some performed musical acts and others showed technical abilities/skills. For a short while, William and Kate became DJ's, and Kate seemed to have a better grasp of the technique, though William gave it his best.
      Afterward, the Duke and Duchess watched a skateboard display at a skate park just outside of the studio. William passed up an opportunity to show off his skateboarding skills, but seemed to like the display, and at its conclusion, he said to one of the skaters: "Thank you for your display today, I thoroughly enjoyed it." The skater, taking a somewhat looser approach to communicating with royalty, responded: "Cheers brah. It was pretty sick aye?"

     There was also new artwork at the skate park in Adelaide to greet the Cambridge's. Here, the Duke did try his hand at graffiti by adding his own touches to the work, and did so by reportedly staying within the lines. (Somehow I doubt that Harry would have done the same).
      Following this, William and Catherine took a short drive to the Playford Civic Centre, which is named for Sir Thomas Playford, who was Premier of SA for 27 years and played a part in the development of the area.

     There, they met thousands of well-wishers, some of whom had been waiting since 3:00AM to snap up a prime position to catch a glimpse of the future King and Queen of Australia as they made their way through the walkabout. There was one woman who has not missed a Royal tour since the Queen visited in the 1960's, and even had the picture to prove it.
      At the Playford Civic Centre, a youth focused civic reception was held by the Governor and Premier of South Australia with 200 guests under 30 in attendance, and it was there that William and Kate were presented yet another gift for Prince George - this time, a skateboard.
      Outside, they also officially named a planned office block in the fore court of the Civic Centre "Prince George Plaza" during an ceremony in which a plaque was unveiled.

     After another walkabout, the couple greeted a 100-year-old named Monica Swarbrick outside the civic centre, and wished her "Happy Birthday" before leaving for the airport and returning to Canberra in the late afternoon to be with Prince George at Government House for the night.

     Later today will be one of the busiest days on the 2014 Royal Tour. The Duke and Duchess will be Canberra all day to view an exhibition of artworks at the National Portrait Gallery, attend a reception held by Prime Minister Tony Abbot at Parliament House, visit the National Arboretum with it fantastic views of the city, and finally, attend another reception held by the Governor-General (the Queen's Australian representative) at Government House in their honor.


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