As if determined to demonstrate that Christchurch had not lost its sense of humour, one well-wisher held aloft a handmade sign as Prince William arrived at the city's airport on Thursday. "Thank you for dropping by," it read. "Sorry about the mess."
A few of the stock cliches were witnessed – at one point the prince stopped to hold a baby, and later signed a fire officer's helmet – but his whistlestop tour of disaster-hit parts of New Zealand and Australia is no normal bunting-and-barbecues royal visit.
Escorted through the central part of New Zealand's second-biggest city, Prince William said he was stunned to see the damage caused by last month's magnitude 6.3 earthquake, which killed at least 166 people and paralysed the central business district and many suburbs.
"The scale of it is unbelievable. It really does bring it home to you to see a building like that, it's just so sad," he said, looking up at the 26-storey Hotel Grand Chancellor, which remains slumped dramatically towards the earth.
The prince had earlier spent almost an hour talking to rescue workers at the city's art gallery, repurposed as a makeshift emergency response headquarters. One worker in the building said the prince's visit "definitely lifted spirits".
More than three weeks after Christchurch was rocked by its second massive earthquake in five months, morale is under considerable strain.
On Wednesday the New Zealand government and the International Rugby Board confirmed that Christchurch would no longer host its seven allotted games in the Rugby World Cup, because of damage to the stadium and accommodation.
On Thursday afternoon William flew across New Zealand's South Island to the west coast to meet the families of the 29 men who died in the Pike River mine explosion.
Welcoming the royal at the Miners' Hall in Shantytown, near Greymouth, the Grey District mayor, Tony Kokshoorn, said: "We look at you and we know that you, also, have had tragic times in your past."
One of those who met Prince William in a private gathering was Kath Monk, mother of one of the miners killed in November's explosion. "We were so touched, to think that William would travel halfway round the world so close to his wedding," Monk said. "For the people in Christchurch, and likewise for the Pike River families, it's given us all a lift. It really did mean a lot."
The meeting with the prince was very informal, Monk said. "William spoke to every person from all the families. He seems a very genuine person who shows real compassion. He spoke briefly about his mother – how [bereavement] felt as a 15-year-old – he really could relate." And he displayed "a good sense of humour", she added, evidence that "he's his mother's son".
The prime minister, John Key, who met the royal in Shantytown, said the visit was "hugely appreciated by New Zealanders". He welcomed the inclusion of the Christchurch earthquake appeal on the royal wedding charity gift fund, a gesture which "reflects the couple's close ties to and affection for New Zealand".
The royal visit, which led New Zealand news bulletins, was not, however, welcomed by everyone.
Keri Hulme, patron of the Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa is the Maori name for the country), said the tour appeared to be a "designed to enhance politicians' profiles".
The prince probably meant well, said West Coast resident Hulme, who won the 1984 Booker prize for her novel The Bone People, "but he's here today and gone by Saturday. And in the meantime, and for years and years coming, it's Aotearoa New Zealanders and their friends (we will not forget the massive outpouring of support from around the world, and we especially are thinking of the Japanese rescue teams at the moment) who will be the ones slowly rebuilding places."
The prince's presence was an anachronism, she said. "We are making our own customs of memorialisation, our own ways of comforting each other. And the sheer secularity of the archipelago means that older practices become irrelevant."
Writing in the Christchurch Press, Vicki Anderson questioned the timing of the memorial service, which is expected to be attended by more than 10,000 people, including Prince William and politicians from New Zealand and Australia, in Christchurch's Hagley Park on Friday. The event, Anderson wrote, amounted to "a grandiose, empty gesture starring so-called VIPs".
For locals, she said, "life is still too raw here for us to have a memorial. With a memorial comes some form of closure – we're just not in that place yet. To the rest of New Zealand and visiting dignitaries the earthquake might be old news but it's not to us, the ones living through it."
She added: "Looking on the bright side, I guess the homeless, sorry, displaced, will be able to go to Hagley Park to finally get to use a toilet. Some affected colonials might even get a glimpse of Prince William's rapidly decreasing hairline."
On Saturday William is scheduled to depart for Australia, where he will visit parts of Queensland and Victoria recovering from flooding and cyclones.
He will leave New Zealand with an enhanced vocabulary. Bob Parker was good enough to explain to the prince the meaning of "munted", a slice of Kiwi slang the mayor has repeatedly used to describe the state of much of Christchurch. "It means totally destroyed, which suits with what's going on around here," Parker said.