Duke and Duchess join Hobbit director Peter Jackson on drizzly tour of aircraft museum
On a drizzly second day of their official tour of New Zealand, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were joined by the country's most famous film-maker, Peter Jackson on a visit to an aircraft museum at Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre in Blenheim.
Following his first royal engagement yesterday, eight-month-old Prince George was left behind with his nanny.
Read: George makes friends during first royal engagement
Prince William gamely climbed into a Sopwith Pup aircraft on the visit, though he initially struggled to fit into the snug cockpit.
Watch Prince William struggling to climb into the cockpit:
Peter Jackson escorted the couple inside the museum, where they viewed an exhibition of World War One aircraft and met a World War Two fighter pilot.
Kate, 32, was fascinated to see the mannequins of pilots sitting in open cockpits, saying: "They must have been freezing."
Peter Jackson has been collecting First World War memorabilia since he was 12 and could not hide his enthusiasm showing the royal couple around the museum, which contains 20 of his planes displayed on dioramas depicting dramatic scenes from the conflict.
The royal couple were introduced to the museum's senior guide, Harcourt "Bunty" Bunt, 93, a celebrated Second World War Spitfire pilot from Picton, who explained one of the most daring escapades depicted in the museum.
The couple were delighted to be given a child-size flying helmet, lined with possum skin, for Prince George.
Jane Orphan, chief executive of the attraction, said: "We were very keen to mark the occasion with a gift and this is all about preserving the heritage for future generations. We thought what better to give than a gift for the young Prince."
The couple earlier laid a wreath at a war memorial in Blenheim.
They accepted gifts from wellwishers during the visit, including sisters Tallulah Debinette's framed photograph showing the first time she met The Duke of Cambridge as a baby in 2010.
Their mother Sara-Lee Debinette said to the Duke: "You told her she had piano fingers," and he replied: "I never did, I'd never say such a thing."
The couple were both wearing commemorative poppy pins in tribute to the fallen, ahead of Anzac Day, which falls later this month.
A note was attached to the couple's wreath, signed by William and Kate, which read: "Never forgetting those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom."