Britain’s Prince William and his wife, Kate, on Friday wrapped up their tour Down Under, which has drawn crowds numbering in the thousands, after a surprise visit to a dawn service for Australian soldiers lost in war.
The young royals have been warmly received during their tour of Australia and New Zealand, in which they have traveled from beach to remote outback and shown off their nine-month-old son, George.
On their final day, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were among tens of thousands at events marking ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand, a tribute to soldiers past and present.
The day marks the April 25, 1915 landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) at Gallipoli in modern-day Turkey, and has become a defining symbol of courage and comradeship for both countries.
“I said to them, it means a great deal to our nation that you should honor us by attending the dawn service,” Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson said. “Without hesitation, they had an immense sense of pride in actually being here. But in the end ... it’s not about the royals, it’s not about the governor-general... it’s about the men and women we honor.”
Afterward, the couple attended a commemorative service at the Australian War Memorial which drew an estimated 37,000 people.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a monarchist who recently reintroduced the titles of knights and dames, spoke of the connection between Britain and its former colony Australia at the event.
“Long ago, we ceased to regard Britain as the mother country, but we’re still family,” he said. “Your presence, sir, reminds us of all our comrades-in-arms. These are the ties that bind. Lest we forget.”
Abbott said the events at Gallipoli almost a century ago, in which more than 10,000 Australian and New Zealand servicemen lost their lives, still cast a shadow.
“The First World War impacted Australia like nothing before or since,” he said, adding that from a population of about 5 million, 417,000 Australians enlisted and more than 60,000 died in service.
Kate, who has impressed observers with her wardrobe choices on the tour, wore a gray tweed coat dress, midnight blue headpiece and a poppy brooch given to her by the wife of Australian Victorian Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith.
ANZAC Day is a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand, with tens of thousands attending somber dawn services and parades.
In New Zealand, a dawn march in Wellington was led by returned servicemen and women dressed in replicas of 1914 New Zealand infantry uniforms, the brainchild of Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson.
“The soldiers got into it, wearing the kit of their forebears,” Jackson said.
The royals’ visit, which began in Wellington on April 7, ended in Canberra with the family boarding a Royal Australian Air Force plane for a flight to Sydney, where they were to catch their connecting flight to Britain.
George delighted crowds on a visit to Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo to see Australian wildlife last weekend, and earlier during a playdate with other children in New Zealand.
He was once again in the arms of his mother, watched by spectators at the airport.
“I hope to see them back again. They’ve definitely brought some life back into the royals,” well-wisher Nicolette Ellis said.
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