Kate and William meet overseas troops preparing to honour Queen
The Prince and Princess of Wales have arrived at Army Training Centre Pirbright in Surrey to meet troops from the Commonwealth taking part in the Queen’s state funeral.
William and Kate are using the visit to speak to soldiers from countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand to take part in Monday’s historic event.
It comes after the couple yesterday chatted with crowds at the late monarch’s Sandringham residence in Norfolk and looked over the sea of tributes left in her memory.
William and Kate, both 40, began the visit by stepping out of a dark Range Rover near to the estate’s historic Norwich Gates where they warmly greeted by huge crowds who had waited behind metal barriers to see them.
One well-wisher, Gemma Schultz, spoke to William after he noticed her baby wearing a top with Paddington on it and commented about the bear’s popularity following the Queen‘s skit with the marmalade sandwich-loving character for her Platinum Jubilee Celebrations in June.
The Prince joked: ‘I was saying, I think Paddington might have knocked the Corgi off the top spot now. The Corgis won’t take that very well.’
The Prince and Princess of Wales have arrived at Army Training Centre Pirbright in Surrey to meet troops from the Commonwealth who are to participate in the Queen’s state funeral
William and Kate are using the visit to speak to soldiers from countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand to take part in Monday’s historic event
Following the discussion, Gemma told BBC News that William and Kate were ‘nice and genuine people’, adding: ‘We spoke to William and we spoke to Kate, they both said about his little outfits, how nice they were… All the things that they are doing for everyone is just so nice.’
The Prince and Princess of Wales, who stayed for almost an hour, chatting to royal fans young and old, looked deep in thought as they read the messages on the sea of floral tributes that have been left behind at the gates to the royal residence.
William told a woman waiting in the crowds that yesterday’s procession was ‘very difficult’ and ‘brought back a few memories’ of walking behind his mother Diana’s coffin, before – close to tears – saying to her: ‘Don’t cry now, you’ll start me off’.
William was also heard telling a mourner the Queen was ‘everyone’s grandmother’, and saying Prince George, nine, understood that she had died but Princess Charlotte, seven, and Prince Louis, four, less so. Meanwhile, Kate told a woman she would burst into tears if she read too many sympathy cards.