AKIPRESS.COM - When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wore a traditional Maori coat to meet the Queen, it had quite a few people scratching their heads - and most New Zealanders glowing with pride.

It's a korowai, a cloak-like garment woven with feathers and steeped in history, tradition and cultural significance.

Worn by Maori on special occasions, it surprised some when it turned up in London at the Commonwealth Summit.

But it's not that unusual. The Queen also wears one whenever she visits New Zealand.

"It makes me really emotional," Ranui Ngarimu, a senior weaver with the Nga Tahu Maori tribe, told the BBC. "It's a real acknowledgment of the prestige and power of a woman." "To wear something that is so intrinsically of this place here, and for her to wear it at that event knowing that she would be photographed from every angle, that's a real acknowledgment of her relationship with the Maori people and with New Zealand."