Prince would like to have stayed longer

Press, 25 August 1980, Page 1

Prince would like to have stayed longer

The just-ended trip to New Zealand by Prince Fumihito, of Japan, gave him probably his first taste of “freedom,” away from family and officialdom.

For a week, the prince, aged 14, rode horses, played tennis, and had a first-hand look at Canterbury farm life, as a guest of the Sellar family, of Kinloch Farm, Little River.

“He did what we did,” said Mr Michael Sellar last evening after accompanying Prince Fumihito to Auckland. The visitor, the second son of Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko, is now back in Tokyo after his two weeks stay in New Zealand.

According to the Press

Association, the prince told reporters waiting at Narita Airport that he wished he could have stayed here a little longer. it was his first time away from his family and during the Little River stay he was even away from the watchful eye of his usually close attendants — a chamberlain, a valet, and a security guard.

“It was obviously a great sense of freedom compared with what I would imagine his life is like in Tokyo,” said Mr Sellar.

He said the prince had been “naturally shy,” but over the week his grasp of English seemed to improve. Prince Fumihito had been shown over the 2500

acre Sellar property, and showed interest in various aspects of its mixed sheep and cattle farming. He even began learning to drive a tractor, Mr Sellar said.

Edward Sellar, aged 14, and a group of his friends accompanied the prince for the week.

During that time, news media coverage of the prince’s visit was restricted to two occasions on the farm. A big contingent of Japanese reporters had followed him to New Zealand. The stay at ' Kinloch Farm had been arranged by the Internal Affairs Department, which . approached Mr Sellar with the idea. Mr and Mrs Sellar accompanied Prince Fumihito who left the farm last Wednesday, to be greeted by the Maori Queen at Ngaruawahia, and was bidden farewell at a dinner .in Auckland on Saturday.