Gavin, 6, gave Meghan a pasta necklace. Now he's selling them for charity
The Melbourne schoolboy behind Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex's pasta necklace is now selling his creation, hoping to raise money for research into stillbirth.
Gavin Hazelwood, 6, took the day off school last Thursday to catch a glimpse of the royals, and spent the morning crafting a gift for the Duchess and a sign to draw her attention.
“I made you a necklace.”
After cobbling the necklace together from materials he found at home, Gavin waited among the crowd for almost two hours and was “in awe” as the Duchess approached, his mum Rowan said.
“It’s Gavin all over. He likes to be a part of things,” she said.
Meghan took the necklace, threaded with pasta dipped in gold paint, and wore it as she greeted adoring Melburnians.
The story went around the world, and Gavin was taken aback when fans said he should make more necklaces to sell.
“He said ‘It’s only a pasta necklace, I don’t want to make money,’” Ms Hazelwood said.
It was suggested to Gavin that he donate the money, and he was keen to follow the lead of Prince Harry and Meghan’s charitable works.
He enlisted the help of his dad to build a website, where the pasta necklaces can be bought for $20 each.
The site doesn’t list a specific charity or cause yet, but Ms Hazelwood said Gavin is motivated by the loss of his younger sister, stillborn four years ago.
“He went through it with us, so he has a lot of empathy and he wants to do his little part to help,” she said.
“He knows how much it affects each family. Siblings have to go through it too and they’re often forgotten.”
Ms Hazelwood said they had 18 sales on the first night alone, but Gavin has no plans to branch out from necklaces.
The keen young aviator wore his Qantas Joey Club uniform to meet Meghan, reads about hero pilots before bed and dreams of a career in the cockpit.
“I want to fly to Hawaii; I’ve been there six times!” he said.
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