WELLINGTON-bred merino Fred is among the most famous rams in the world following his bow to the royals on Good Friday at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
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It took 14 days for owner Jim Murray from Dripstone, near Wellington, to train Fred after he was notified by Australian Wool Innovations that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would be entering the pavilion.
Until that moment it was the best kept secret at the show.
"We weren't allowed to tell anyone and didn't allow him to do the trick at the show," the shearing industry development co-ordinator for AWI said.
The pressure was eased knowing that if it didn't work people would be none the wiser, but when Fred pulled it off the reaction was well worth it.
"They loved it," Mr Murray said.
"It was the cute factor, they thought it was cool, but also being able to train him to do this.
"With these guys you could quite easily imaging having a coffee with them or a beer at a barbecue.
"They had a genuine interest in the wool industry and Will was brilliant.
"We actually had a conversation topic because when he got married Australian Wool Innovations gave him a suit that had Fred's wool in it."
This year's show provided many firsts for the Murray family.
Mr Murray hopes the royal publicity does big things for the merino breed - especially for the Woolmark Company, which is owned by AWI and licences people to use the Woolmark brand as a badge of integrity.
"With the Duke and Duchess coming into the pavilion it will keep an awareness for the future, keeping wool in the forefront of people's minds when they make a choice between man-made fibre, which is not environmentally friendly, or natural renewable fibre like wool."
There have been many new developments in the wool industry, with wool now machine washable Fred is set to star in a new national campaign "tested by nature, tested by us".