It was the moment Sydney university student Victoria Mcrae had been waiting for – the moment to ask for Prince Harry’s hand in marriage. But rather than accepting the usual discrete peck on the cheek, the bubbly young royal fan took the opportunity to lean in and lock lips with the blushing prince. She joined a crowd of hundreds waving flags and cheering gathered at the Sydney Opera House to meet Prince Harry as his month-long Australian military deployment comes to a close. The prince met NSW Premier Mike Baird on the stairs of the iconic building at around 12:30pm and they spent some time joking with excited schoolchildren from St Mary’s South Public School (centre) and gave one lucky teacher a hug. He good-naturedly chatted to the crowd but refused a hug saying
‘I’d have to hug everybody!’
The prince took part in a military exercise at the Opera House before greeting the crowd and earlier joined police and defence personnel in a major national counter-terrorism drill at Sydney’s Holsworthy Army Barracks. Later today, Prince Harry will head to Macquarie University Clinic to visit British officer Lt Ali Spearing, who is in Australia for specialist treatment to be fitted with prosthetics after he lost both legs while on deployment in Afghanistan in 2011. The prince, who is winding up his month-long attachment with the Australian Defence Force, will head to New Zealand this weekend before returning home to the UK where he will meet his new niece Charlotte for the first time