A New Document Sheds Light on Protests of Charles and Diana’s 1983 Tour of the South Pacific

But a few instances of local protest did make it into the papers, like the moment in Australia when Diana was presented with the anti-monarchist Eureka flag as she entered the couple’s Rolls Royce.

Metro reports that Sir Richard Stratton, then New Zealand’s British-appointed high commissioner, claimed that Charles and Diana did encounter a group of protesters when they were driving through Wellington.

Immediately after Charles and Diana arrived in New Zealand, police claimed that Dun Mihaka, a well-known Maori rights activist, was arrested after he attempted to moon the royal party while they were still on the plane, according to a United Press International account, which added that they could not see him.

In a 1984 book about his activism, Mihaka explained the significance of the whakapohane i te tou, which means “baring of the buttocks” in the Maori language.

Stratton wrote that despite the event, Diana did well in the country.

In addition, the Stratton letter provides more context about what happened when Diana received the Eureka flag from a union steward, Stan Stupek, after a tour of a construction site.

In the fourth season of The Crown, the tour of Australia and New Zealand is shown as the moment where the princess wins over the citizens of the Commonwealth but also begins to realize that her marriage is broken.

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