A little boy with a big hat got a royal honor on Thursday, when the Prince and Princess of Wales stopped to say hello on their visit to Boston.
Henry Dynov Teixeira, 8, was dressed up as a member of the King's Guard — the famously stoic soldiers in big, fuzzy hats who stand watch at Buckingham Palace — outside Greentown Labs in his native Somerville.
The climate tech startup incubator was the first stop on the royals' itinerary in the Boston area Thursday, and Henry came ready — he had flowers with him that he ended up being able to give to the royals.
"I really want to meet Princess Catherine and Prince William because I never done it before, this is going to be my first time," he said before the meeting.
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His costume Thursday is also what he wore for Halloween -- inspired by a recent trip to London. And with the royals in town, the third grader hoped for a chance to meet them.
"If Prince George isn't here, I am going to ask them where he is, because I want to see him, too," he said.
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Henry didn't get to meet Prince George, but he did get to meet the Prince and Princess of Wales. When the couple walked out of Greentown, Kate leaned down to shake Henry's hand, and William followed suit.
"Kind of obsessed," Henry said.
The couple asked Henry for his name and where he got his costume, the boy recalled.
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When he gave the Princess the flowers he brought, "they said, 'Oh my goodness, thank you so much!'"
Henry was able to give them a salute as well.
"It was crazy!" he said afterward. "I wasn't actually that nervous now that I think of it when I actually did it."
The Prince and Princess sent a personal thanks to the boy, writing from their Twitter account, "Thanks to Henry and everyone who came out to see us in Somerville this morning!"
