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Prince & Princess of Wales

Duke of Cambridge sends daughter of New Zealand Prime Minister a first birthday gift

The Duke of Cambridge, who turned 37 on Friday, sent the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern’s daughter a first birthday gift.

The Duke and the little girl, Neve Te Aroha, share the same birthday, 21 June.

His Royal Highness, a father of three, sent Neve an iconic New Zealand buzzy bee toy. The Prince was photographed playing with a similar toy back in 1983 when he was on his first royal tour with his parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales, in Auckland, New Zealand. The photographs were taken during a photo session at the old Government House when he was just ten months old.

There’s a silver inscription on the £16 toy that says, “Happy Birthday Neve. From Prince William.”

Prime Minister Ardern’s partner, Clarke Gayford shared a couple of photos of the gift on Twitter saying, “Torn between letting the 1st birthday girl continue to maul this amazing gift or putting it somewhere safe FOREVER. Happy Birthday Prince William, what a great shared birthday (I’m pretty sure you win with this).”

The tweet has 152 retweets and over 2,000 likes with many commenting on the sweet gesture.

The Duke of Cambridge was last in New Zealand in April of this year. He travelled to the country on the invitation of the Prime Minister for a two-day visit after the horrific mosque terror attacks that took place in Christchurch in March. He met survivors and paid tribute to those who died on behalf of Her Majesty The Queen. The Duke also met Ms Ardern and attended Anzac Day services alongside her.

He also visited the country with his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge and their first child, Prince George in 2014; George was around nine months at the time.

The couple has two other children, Princess Charlotte (b. 2015) and Prince Louis (b. 2018).

About author

Brittani is from Tennessee, USA. She is a political scientist and historian after graduating with a degree in the topics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in December 2014. She also holds a master's degree from Northeastern University. She enjoys reading and researching all things regarding the royals of the world. She's been researching, reading, and writing on royalty for over a decade. She became Europe Editor in October 2016, and then Deputy Editor in January 2019, and has been featured on several podcasts, radio shows, news broadcasts and websites including Global News Canada, ABC News Australia, WION India and BBC World News.