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 The royal couple began their official tour of Australia with a
ferry ride across the harbor to greet cheering crowds packed in
front of the Opera House, which was opened by Harry's
grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, 45 years ago.
"We're both absolutely delighted to be here. We genuinely
couldn't think of a better place to announce the upcoming baby,
be it a boy or a girl," Harry told a reception at Admiralty
House, the official residence of the governor-general.
Kensington Palace said on Monday the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
were expecting their first baby in the northern spring. The
child will be seventh in line to the British throne and the
queen's eighth great-grandchild.
Thousands of people gathered on the harbor and at the Opera
House, where the couple shook hands and embraced members of the
public.
"I want to see the royal couple. They are young, a breath of
fresh air for the royal family and Australians love them," said
Marvin Lester, who has attended every royal visit to Australia
since 1954.
"There's a lot of feeling for a republic here in Australia but I
admire having a royal family," she said.
Australia, a constitutional monarchy whose head of state is the
British monarch, voted in 1999 against becoming a republic.
Support for a republic is hovering around 50 percent according
to a January poll, a level largely unchanged in recent years,
and there is little appetite to put the issue back on the agenda
during Queen Elizabeth's reign.
Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, the queen's representative
in Australia, presented the couple with their first baby gifts,
a stuffed kangaroo and a tiny pair of fleece-lined Ugg boots.
BEST DRESSED
The visit to Australia is their first overseas tour since Harry,
34, married the former Hollywood actress in May. The trip will
also take the couple to New Zealand and the South Pacific
islands of Tonga and Fiji.
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The couple met some Australian wildlife during a visit to
Taronga Zoo in Sydney, where zookeepers said the 3,500 animals
there were "excited to meet them".
Excitement over news of the baby was almost matched by a frenzy
over Meghan's outfit.
Named 2018's best dressed woman by People magazine, Meghan wore
a white cocktail dress by Australian designer Karen Gee
underneath a beige trench coat that revealed just a hint of a
baby bump.
The A$1,800 dress, dubbed "Blessed Dress", was an instant hit,
with demand crashing the designer's website a number of times
throughout the day.
After watching an indigenous-themed show by the Bangarra Dance
Company at the Opera House, the couple met prominent figures
from sports, business, the arts and charities.
It is the second tour of Australia by the younger generation of
royals after Prince William and his wife, Kate, and their eldest
son, George, visited in 2014.
The trip by Harry and Meghan coincides with the Invictus Games
to be held in Sydney from Oct. 20-27. The games founded by Harry
are an international paralympic-style event for military
personnel wounded in action.
(Reporting by Paulina Duran; Additional reporting by Tom
Westbrook; Editing by Paul Tait, Robert Birsel)
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