Prince leaves for N.Z.

Press, 7 September 1982, Page 6

Prince leaves for N.Z.

NZPA London Prince Edward . was worried that his luggage would be overweight when he checked in for his Air New Zealand flight to Auckland on his way to be tutor at Wanganui Collegiate School. But Mr Richard Gates, the airline’s London manager, told him there was no need to worry. “Prince Edward told me he had a trunk of sports equipment because he is keen to get outdoors,” Mr Gates said yesterday. The Prince, who recently completed his schooling at Gordohstoun College, flew from Gatwick Airport as an inaugural guest of Air New Zealand.

He will spend two terms at Wanganui Collegiate. Details of his departure

were kept under wraps for security reasons until the Air New Zealand flight, commanded by the airline’s chief pilot, Captain Arthur Jones, had cleared Los Angeles. Prince Edward sipped orange juice as he chatted with Mr Gates, Air New Zealand’s chairman, Mr R. A. Owens, and the New Zealand High Commissioner in London, Mr L. W. Gandar, and their wives, before boarding the aircraft. Mr Gates’s daughters, Annabelle, aged nine, and Emma, aged eight, gave the Prince a red rose for his buttonhole. Prince Edward is due in Auckland tomorrow morning. He will fly from there to Wellington where he will stay with the Governor-Gen-eral, Sir David Beattie, at Government House, before going to Wanganui.