Prince Charlie's Fijian Fling...

Well, look who’s on the right! It’s Prince Charles. But that’s not Lady Jane Wellesley with him. No, it’s 18-year-old Sainimere Matanitobua, of the Fijian firewalkers’ isle of Beqa. They’re not going for a walk. Sainimere has gone down in the history of Fijian women as the girl who taught the heir to the British Throne how to dance the tuiboto. Prince Charles, an officer on the Royal Navy frigate FI MS Jupiter, in the South Pacific as an escort for the Royal Yacht Britannia, was paying a visit to Fiji and the big day for him, the captain, Commander Gunning and the people of Beqa, was February 12. The Fijian taralala (dance) was only one of the attractions for Prince Charles. There was a meke by schoolchildren, a welcome with tabua and yaqona, a display of firewalking and one of those famous Fijian fish drives in which the prince took part with as much enthusiasm as when Sainimere piloted him through the tuiboto dance. She captured her prince thanks to the Fijian custom which probably jolted Charles. At a Fijian dance the girl does the asking and Sainimere, urged on by friends, asked him to dance. At the climax of the fish drive, the prince and some of his shipmates plunged overboard from the boats and, chest deep in water, helped to haul hundreds of yards of vine used to encircle the fish. Back in Suva, Prince Charles told PI M’s man, “/ enjoyed it very much. I had a fantastic time.” So did Sainimere.