Hello, Cinderella.Sorry, I am Grace - When Harry met lovely lady from the hills

This photograph, posted by New Zealand governor-general Jerry
Mateparae on Facebook, shows Prince Harry helping Grace put on
her slippers in Auckland

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Darjeeling, May 17: Her footwear had come off. The prince dutifully bent down, picked it up and slipped it under her feet. Then they smiled.

A page out of the Cinderella fairytale?

Not quite, for the slipper was of red velvet, not glass, and she all of four years.

The prince is real (although his "curly hair" somehow disqualifies him, as far as the beneficiary of his good manners is concerned). Not only is he charming, he also answers to the name Harry.

On Friday evening, four-year-old Grace Pradhan, an Indian citizen who lived in Darjeeling before she moved to New Zealand, was among the invitees to the Government House, the governor-general's residence, in Auckland.

Grace was wearing the traditional wrap of the hills - a chowbandi choli - red ribbons and red velvet slippers. She was the last in a long line of people waiting to shake hands with Prince Harry, the guest at a reception by the Emergency Services and Disaster Relief.

Grace's mother Arpana Thapa had been invited as a member of an NGO called Child Fund. Grace, too, had an invite. 

When Harry reached the end of the line, he saw Grace, according to the girl's father Kunal Pradhan, who hails from Singamari in Darjeeling but moved to Auckland in 2009 where he is an IT consultant. Kunal was at work when the event took place.

Grace Pradhan before leaving her home in Auckland on Friday to meet Prince Harry.
Picture courtesy: Kunal Pradhan

Arpana said: "We were divided into groups and Prince Harry started meeting all of us. Grace was standing at the end of the line beside me. Prince Harry first enquired about my work and the current problems in Nepal (Arpana hails from Kathmandu). He then started talking to my daughter and teased her, asking whether her hair was red."

Grace told him she had braided her hair and tied it with a red laacha (ribbon) and that her hair was not red.

"She was actually trying to move behind me when her shoe slipped off her feet," Arpana said. "The prince teasingly tried to take the shoe from her before finally slipping them back under her feet," the mother said.

On Sunday, Grace, who does read fairytales, was watching cartoons and was, understandably, reluctant to speak to this reporter.

After some coaxing, she did agree to spare a few minutes. Did she know that the person who picked up her footwear is a real prince?

"No, he has curly hair," Grace said.

(Arpana explained later: "Grace is a bit fidgety, so we had told her to behave well as Prince Harry would be at the event. She, however, did not think he was a prince.")

After some more cajoling, Grace said: "I am happy. I will tell my friends and teachers when I go back to school."

Grace attends Montessori classes in Auckland.

The girl, who was born in Kathmandu and was taken to Darjeeling soon after her birth, holds an Indian passport. She moved to New Zealand with her mother in 2011, when she was 10 months old, to join Kunal.

The invitation to attend the event was sent to the family two weeks ago. A group of 30 to 35 was invited to the Auckland event where Jerry Mateparae, the governor-general of New Zealand, was also present.

Pictures on Facebook, posted by the governor-general, showed Harry holding Grace's slipper and smiling at her.

The governor-general commented on the fairytale parallel. In the caption he wrote: "Talk about a Cinderella moment at tonight's Emergency Services and Disaster Relief reception! This little girl kicked off her shoe. Luckily, there was a Prince nearby to help her put it back on...."

The spokesperson for Harry in London, who must have faced a fusillade of tricky questions in the past given the bachelor prince's penchant for adventure, was not available for comment.

Kunal, Grace's father, said many of their friends had called up after seeing the Facebook post. "It was a very kind gesture from the prince, a very touching gesture."

No doubt, Harry, who is no stranger to placards that read "Marry me, Harry" and "His Royal Hotness", has charmed the grown-ups. But the curly-haired prince has to go some way to convince little Grace.

Thinking of switching to straight hair, Your Royal Hotness?