Charlotte shows George what a real tantrum looks like
AFTER behaving immaculately all week, Princess Charlotte finally showed herself to be a typical twoyear-old yesterday.
The youngster had melted hearts by politely shaking hands with dignitaries and graciously accepting flowers on her previous appearances during her family’s five-day tour of Europe.
Yesterday, however, she had a little wobble on the family’s very last engagement in Hamburg. Dressed in a pretty floral frock, she stamped her feet impatiently and then appeared to throw herself to the ground in a huff as, with her parents and brother Prince George, she visited the city’s Airbus factory.
She was quickly scooped up by the duchess, who soothed her daughter back from the brink of tears, although she seemed a little sulky as they were shown the plant’s planes and helicopters.
Afterwards, as the family were about to board a private jet headed back to Britain, Charlotte needed a little encouragement from Kate to shake an official’s hand.
But her bad mood evaporated after she and George were handed a children’s book from Hamburg’s new concert hall, the Elbphilharmonie, as a parting gift. She appeared delighted with her present, clinging tightly to it as the family were seen off by British ambassador Sir Sebastian Wood and Hamburg’s mayor, Olaf Schulz.
Charlotte then skipped happily towards the plane and was helped up the steps by her father while the duchess said a final goodbye to the ambassador and mayor.
On their previous arrivals in Warsaw and Berlin, Charlotte had upstaged her big brother as she charmed dignitaries. While George rubbed his eyes and sometimes appeared bored, his sister beamed as she accepted a mini bouquet from officials. And when she left Warsaw for their flight to Germany, Charlotte even did a little curtsy to dignitaries as she passed down the red carpet.
Yesterday at the Airbus factory Kate and William were shown around an A320 aircraft – and in the cockpit the duchess proved who is in charge in the marriage by being designated the pilot, with the duke relegated to co-pilot.
Earlier William told a group of young fans during a tour of the concert hall that Prince George was gearing up for his fourth birthday celebrations.
He said: ‘George has got a big tummy. He’ll probably end up eating all his cake by himself.’
During the event Kate tried her hand at conducting the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra.
The duchess, who comes from a musical family and played the flute throughout her school days, took the baton and briefly directed the musicians as they played the first four notes of Beethoven’s fifth symphony.
For William, there was a touching reminder of his family history when he came face to face with a model of the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned 20 years ago.
The model, which was displayed at Hamburg Maritime Museum, was finished only two days ago. ‘Is that Britannia?’ said an astonished William. ‘It’s beautiful – amazing.’
He was shown the model by Christian Hinneborg, 30, grandson of the museum’s founder, who said the 1:96 scale model took three months to build. William said that he had been on Britannia only a handful of times. ‘I don’t know it that well... but it is the most wonderful model,’ he said.