In what is possibly the first tummy tickle during a New Zealand royal tour, Prince Harry shared a funny moment with a shy young fan today.

The Duke and Duchess were at Wellington's Maranui Cafe this morning, where they met with young people to speak about issues surrounding mental health.

After their meeting, they came out to meet members of the public who had come out to see them, including pupils from local Houghton Valley School.

Harry gives shy Joe Young a tummy tickle after meeting him outside Maranui cafe, Wellington #RoyalVisitNewZealand pic.twitter.com/dtcBG0YSca

— Alexander Britton (@adbritton) October 28, 2018

As Meghan walked down the line of youngsters, who were all donning bucket hats, she shook their hands and spoke briefly to each one.

But the last pupil in the line had his eyes almost covered with the rim of his hat and had become very shy all of a sudden.

Despite Meghan's efforts to coax a smile from him, 5-year-old Joe Young was not having it; with tears threatening to fall as he rubbed one of his eyes and kept his wee chin down to his chest.

When Prince Harry came around - after the other children happily greeted him with a handshake - he bent down to little Joe's eye level; doing his best to get a smile from the youngster.

The Duke, maybe as a last resort, then gave Joe a little tummy tickle - still to no avail.

The royals are due to arrive at the Abel Tasman National Park, where they will tuck into a barbecue lunch with youth ambassadors and schoolchildren before going on a bush walk.