Prince Charles scheduled to visit Mt Cook

Press, 12 February 1981, Page 3

Prince Charles scheduled to visit Mt Cook

Timaru reporter Staff at the Mount Cook National Park headquarters are in the dark about what will be involved iff the visit of Prince Charles to Mount Cook on April 7. The Internal Affairs Department in Wellington last evening said that tentative arrangements had been' made for Prince Charles to stay at Mount Cook, but this had yet to be confirmed.. There was no specific reason for the stopover other than that’ it was convenient, a departmental spokesman' said. By April 7, the Mount Cook National Park Board will be wearing its new livery — that of the Aorangi National Parks and Reserves Board — which it will iassume on April 1.

Few,, if any, members of the Royal Family have visited Mount Cook, Peel Forest having been, the closest the Queen and Prince Philip have got to it. The last royal person of other nationalities to call at Mount Cook was the Crown Prince of .Japan. • Since Sir George Bowen visited Mount Cook as Gov-ernor-General in 1873, successive Governors-General have visited the region. Governors Bush, which is close to the Hermitage Hotel, is named after Sir George Bowen. His visit was remarkable. for the fact that the tourist possibilities so impressed him that he offered financial assistance to any member of the Alpine Club (London) who would attempt to climb Mount Cook.