It’s not every day that you exercise on the lawn of Government House with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
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But that was a reality for Warrnambool teacher Melinda Louden – who on Thursday joined 160 women at a demonstration of VicHealth’s This Girl Can program.
Ms Louden is an ambassador for the statewide program that aims to get women involved in sport.
She said each ambassador brought along a friend and took part in a number of exercises, while Harry and Meghan moved between each station meeting and greeting those involved.
“My sister and I were doing yoga and Harry came over to our station and was having a bit of a laugh with one of the ambassadors and everyone just suddenly stopped and forgot to do the yoga," Ms Louden.
“Harry had to tell us to keep going. It was lovely to see them in person and be able to capture the This Girl Can program in action.”
Ms Louden said it wasn’t the first time she had met members of the royal family – with Prince Charles and Princess Diana visiting Portland more than 30-years ago.
“I was a bit too young to really remember but my sister is older and she still remembers Dianna’s pink dress with white spots,” she said.
“It’s pretty cool seeing people that are always in the magazines or on TV in real life. Harry and Meghan were really genuine and I was actually quite taken aback at how normal they were.
“They were running considerably late due to traffic but they definitely weren’t acting like they were rushed, they had so much time for everyone there.”
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