Dame Patsy Reddy has revealed her experience meeting the "charming" Prince Philip saying he was "very suspicious" of her and her husband being vegetarians.
The Governor-General spoke to The AM Show about her encounter with Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh during her interview for the role.
When she applied for the role of Governor-General, Dame Patsy was invited into Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen and Prince Philip for lunch in what she said was a "wonderful" occasion.
"He doesn't have a public role now but I found him extremely charming," Dame Patsy said of Prince Philip. "He was very suspicious of the fact that Dave [husband] and I were vegetarians and wondered why. He did say, 'well you'll get on very well with my son Charles', but he was lovely.
"Both the Queen and the Duke had lots of memories of New Zealand and they were very happy memories - they enjoyed, particularly, their tour in [19]53, '54."
Dame Patsy said she's met the Queen on three occasions, most recently for last year's D-Day commemorations in the UK.
"When we're in London, we always get in touch to see if she's available and she's always very interested to see what's going on in New Zealand, but apart from that, of course, she doesn't travel anymore - she doesn't travel overseas or long distances anymore, so we keep in touch by letter-writing," Dame Patsy said.
Despite only writing to the Queen only about once every six months, Dame Patsy said she has more frequent contact with her son and heir to the throne Prince Charles.
"I give her a personal view - it's private correspondence and I give her my perspective on what's happening. So last year - I wrote and gave her my perspective on the impact on our country of the mosque massacres and explained to her what a great job I thought New Zealanders had done in coming together to grieve."
