On the October itinerary for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first Australian jaunt lies the slightly unlikely – but completely delighted – regional town of Dubbo.
The three-week trip will be Harry and Meghan’s first official overseas tour, wrapping in Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga, as well as Melbourne, Fraser Island and Sydney, for the Invictus Games – an international multi-sport event launched by Prince Harry in 2014 to celebrate the achievements of wounded, injured or sick veterans.
But according to Dubbo’s mayor, Ben Shields, a highlight will be his city in the Orana region of New South Wales, and the local delicacy it has won awards for: the classic Australian meat pie.
“People keep asking me, ‘Why Dubbo?’ And I keep saying, ‘Of course they’d come to Dubbo.’ You don’t go to Australia without visiting Dubbo! It’s as simple as that,” Shields told Guardian Australia on Tuesday.
“I’ve been telling people for years it is the centre of the universe.”
The Dubbo trip was the result of a hard-won pitch from the city council. “They made it clear months ago that the duke will be going to a regional centre, and we jumped on board as quickly as we could – begged, pleaded, did everything we had to do to get him there.”
He’s hoping the visit will help boost morale and the town’s income, as it battles through a crippling and unprecedented drought. “Dubbo is the primary service centre for western NSW … and if the farmers have no cash in their pockets, it means they don’t spend on our local businesses,” he says.
While the duke and duchess won’t be spending the night, they’ll have a packed day, Shields says, visiting the Western Plains Taronga zoo, and, he hopes, stopping in for a classic Australian meal: the meat pie.
Which pie exactly? “It’s got to be the cheese and bacon pie at the Village Bakery, it’s clearly the best,” he answers quickly.
The website of the Darling Street shop boasts more than 100 awards for its gourmet pies. “I’m pretty sure Harry will appreciate that one. I reckon Meghan will have a go at it as well … you can’t do a visit to regional or rural Australia without the meat pie.”
As for how they’ll tuck in, it’s anyone’s guess. “I have no idea if there’s any real protocol with that – gold cutlery or whatnot. But I’m hoping that he gets in there with his fingers – or at the very least a plastic fork.”