Look who's crawling! Little Prince Charming George shows off new skills at New Zealand playgroup on his first official engagement
- Prince George attends playgroup with ten lucky babies at Government House today
- The royal family arrived in Wellington on Monday for their three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand
Prince George undertook his first royal crawl-about today as he attended a parent and baby group with his own, world-famous, mummy and daddy.
The eight-month-old was brought along by his clearly proud parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, to the ‘playdate’ organised by The Royal New Zealand Plunket Society at Government House in Wellington.
Following his scene-stealing appearance on Monday when the family arrived in New Zealand to begin their three week tour Down Under, all eyes were on the future king as he was introduced to ten babies born within a few weeks of his own birthday, on July 22 last year.
It was the first time that the third in line to the throne had undertaken a public duty – of sorts. But it clearly won’t be the first, in what will be a lifetime of royal service.
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Prince George shares a playdate with ten lucky families at Government House in Wellington on Wednesday and shows he's starting to crawl
The gorgeous eight-month-old appeared very taken with one particular toy, holding it in the air and giggling as he played on the floor of the stately home
Sitting cross legged on the floor, the young prince was animated as he called out to his mother
Fortunately George, whose first two bottom teeth recently popped through, conducted his debut public engagement with the confidence of a seasoned pro.
Crawling around on the plush blue patterned carpet of the Blandor Room, which was littered with toys including building bricks and a xylophone, George was one of the biggest babies there - 'quite a bruiser' one onlooker remarked.
Dressed in blue Rachel Riley dungaree shorts with a ship on the front, a white blouse and soft blue pre walking shoes, he had no fear in pulling himself up towards the other children - and stealing their toys.
Kate looked her usually elegant self in a black and white print Tory Burch dress with a fringe detail at the sleeves and hem.
She watched on protectively, occasionally wiping some dribble from his chin, as William chatted to some of the other parents.
'It's madness, there are babies everywhere!' he exclaimed.
At one point the Duchess pulled her son to his feet and helped him bounce up and down - showing that the prince probably isn't far off 'cruising' yet.
The young prince hugged tightly to his mother's arms as William, who had been swapping stories with the other parents, looked on
Prince George was presented with a giant and very fluffy blue bear by an an organiser at the Plunket event
The young prince looked a little wary of the large stuffed toy and didn't seem to keen to get any closer
Kate, with George still in her arms, talked to Ingrid, 29, and David, 28, Alve with baby Eden.
George was getting restless, kicking his legs against his mum, so she put him down on the floor to allow him to crawl.
The little prince set off at quite a pace, across the NZ fern-patterned carpet of the Blundell room.
He was stopped in his tracks by baby Amelia Howe who grabbed a plastic block from him.
Baby Amelia started yelling at this royal encounter as her mother, Stephanie van Heuven, apologised to Kate for the bawling - but George crawled serenely on.
He then got hold of a blue plastic block which he put in his mouth.
Baby Sophie Bainbridge crawled past Kate completely oblivious to the royal visitor.
Kate said 'Hello' but Sophie ignored her and kept in crawling.
George then picked up a purple tambourine and started shaking it-gurgling with delight at the noise.
Baby Eden, dressed in floral dress and headband, got in George's way and he reached out to stroke her face.
Kate mingled with the other first-time parents, proudly introducing her son to the children
A multi-coloured toy caught George's attention but he didn't seem too pleased when he eventually got a hold of it
The Duchess of Cambridge spoke to a number of parents as the young prince scratched his ears
Then he reached out a little bit too far and hit Eden in the face with a flailing arm.
She lost her headband in the mellee but seemed unperturbed.
Kate then picked up George.
Dad Ryan Tunstall said: 'Isabella and George had a lot of fun on the drums.
'It was a pleasure sharing our beautiful baby with the duke and duchess The whole thing was a wonderful highlight.'
Grant Collins, 38, and Magda Gurbowicz, 35 met the royals with baby Lucas.
Grant said: 'We found out Lucas had more teeth than George so he's winning that race!
'George has got about four or five teeth coming through. Lucas has got his seventh coming on.
'We chatted to the Duke first and asked about how they and George coped with the jet-lag.
'William said sleeping and distracting (the baby) was the best thing to get over jet-lag and that's what they'd done with George.
We spoke to the Duchess about group play - George had never played with so many babies before.
'She said it was the most amount of babies they'd ever had in a room with George.
He then made his way over to some of the other brightly coloured toys scattered across the floor of the stately home
The prince was happily occupied with the one toy as the other children crawled about him
'He does see other babies, but not many in a group like this.
'George is bubbly, quite feisty and he took control.
'He crawled to the centre of the room and he owned the place.
'He honed in on certain toys and took the ones that he wanted.
'No-one was going to stand in his way!'
Gay parents Jared Mullen and Ryan McRae, who have baby Isabella, spoke about their experience afterwards.
Mr Mullen said: 'Isabella and George had a little play together, they were chums.
'In a way all we did was talk about babies. The Duke and Duchess were lovely, they were both very relaxed and we chatted about our experiences as first time parents.
'He (George) is a lovely little boy, very intrepid.
A few of the other first-time parents gathered around Kate as she lifted her son to his feet. The playgroup is made up of ten families whose children were born within two weeks of George's July 22 birthday
A toy held by another child catches the prince's eye as the Duchess makes faces to draw his attention
