When Harry and Megan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, visited Melbourne, a Shepparton local, Nick Grant, was one of a group of young people who got to meet the royals, who abdicated from their titles, at a batyr workshop: Regional & Rural Youth Voices: Shaping the Future of Mental Health.
Studying Commerce at Monash University and working as an accountant at MB+N, Nick was asked to join the batyr workshop by his sister, who works for them. He didn’t know who the honoured guests would be when he agreed to take part in the workshop.
“Before they got in the room, it was pretty nerve-racking. Everyone in the room was pretty excited, but when they walked in, they were really quite grounded and calm and were interested in meeting everybody,” said Nick.
“There wasn’t like an area of superiority about them. They just wanted to get to know you and listen to what we had to say and offer their own perspectives. They were extremely nice. They introduced themselves to everybody and were very passionate to hear about what we had to say and then offer their own insights and ask us questions about our own experiences and mental health in rural areas.”
The royals completed their whirlwind tour of Australia in four days.
