World media worry for Prince Harry and Meghan during New Zealand earthquake

Tuesday, 30 October 2018

Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, meet the crowds along Auckland's Wynyard Quarter during their world tour.

Despite the Duke and Duchess of Sussex not feeling the 6.2 earthquake centred south-west of Taumarunui, they have been the focus of much of the quake's international media coverage.

The Daily Mail waits until the last sentence of its 585 word article 'Powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake shakes New Zealand during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal visit' to inform readers that 'Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were reportedly unaffected by the quake.'

Earlier the tabloid outlet includes Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi's post-quake press conference comment that he was unsure if the royal couple had been impacted.

Civil Defence Minister Kris Faafoi talks the details on the 6.2 magnitude quake.

The story itself combines information about New Zealand geography, the Duke and Duchess' tree planting, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's advice to check on loved ones, and the Windsor's exploits in gumboot throwing or 'welly-wangling'.

**READ MORE:

Parliament was in session when the quake struck, and was subsequently suspended.

* Live: Strong earthquake rattles central NZ

* Parliament suspended as house feels earthquake

* Meghan rocks Karen Walker - again

* Watch as the 6.2m hits central NZ

* Why Taumarunui dodged the earthquake only 25km away

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex competes in a 'gumboot-throwing' contest following a ceremony to dedicate a 20-hectare area of native bush to the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy in Auckland.

* Earthquake rattles North and South Island**

It includes a graphic of New Zealand that explains that the royals are in Auckland, but fails to add the region was essentially untouched by the earthquake.

Down in the comments section 'Torero' responded, 'That's how powerful Meghan's influence is!'

The Guardian's focus was on parliament, where MPs were being rocked by the earthquake. Deputy speaker Anne Tolley quickly suspended the session.

Reaction was recorded from the Civil Defence Minister as well as Ardern. The article also included a video of students ducking under their desks during the earthquake.

The Express also had a royal focus, covering the tremor as part of their ongoing blog of the pacific tour before the article MAJOR 6.2 earthquake STRIKES New Zealand during Meghan Markle Prince Harry Royal tour was produced.

Despite the dramatic headline in The Express, it told a fairly straightforward explanation of the earthquake, which included this tweet from Olivia Allison, 'Holy crap we just had an epic quake in palmy. First big one since I've been back. Just keeps going.'

The West Australian gave a matter of fact account adding just a dash of royals with gumboots, People took the opportunity to give a general account of the couple's tour, and The Economic Times led with the royals but focused on the quake.

Other media outlets to cover the earthquake included WA Today, 9 News, Channel NewsAsia, Xinhua, ABC, The Tribune India, and News.com.au who all used the preliminary magnitude-6.1 estimate in their headlines.