This month, powerful baby Prince George performs his first official royal duty—an inspection of British penal colonies and their outlying areas—as he and his parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, spend three weeks traveling across Australia and New Zealand. During this time, Gawker.com will publish a selection of entries from his minder Kate Middleton's travel journals.

14 April, 2014

Before our trip, I informed our secretary that the only things I absolutely did not wish to do while abroad were 1) have meetings with babies and 2) spend the night in a haunted residence. I told him I did not believe that toddlers would be capable of running a productive meeting, largely due to factors such as sleepiness, an inability to concentrate, and a generally poor attitude. People act as if I am incapable of having good ideas, but the truth is I have many, for instance: a handbag with a secret compartment (though I don't know what one would put it in it). Since arriving one week ago, I am disappointed to report I have had multiple meetings with children, and that my suspicions have proven correct. Sometimes I feel as though I am running the meetings.

Parliament.

Yesterday, William and I toured a vineyard in Queenstown, which was rather like being in the "New Zealand" wine aisle of our local off licence, except instead being a small section of a spirits shop, it was quite large and out of doors. I had a few sips of wine, and William asked, "Having fun?" I asked, "Why do you ask?" and he said, "Just asking." I had a few more sips of wine.

Bottoms up!

On Monday, we were asked to publicly try our hands at cricket, a game with all of the terminology of Quidditch, and none of the logic. In fact, there appeared to be a wizard in the crowd taking in the sport, though it was never absolutely clear if I was just imagining again.

He is real (?).

I played very poorly, perhaps due to the wizard, perhaps due to the wine.

CM

[Images via Getty, AP]