Royal couple to face off in boat race

THEY have a famously competitive relationship when it comes to sports, taking each other on at dragon boat racing, sprinting and even welly throwing.

This week, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will go head-to-head again, as they rope in a team of rowers from their namesake city to take on Germany in their own waters.

The Royal couple, who embark on a tour of Poland and Germany today, will join women rowers from the Cantabrigian (Cantabs) Rowing Club, Cambridge, and their German counterparts from Heidelberg, each taking a boat in a straight race to the finish line. The Cantabs team will be made up of nine women, including a university lecturer, a doctor, teachers, scientists and NHS staff.

The race, on the Neckar river on Thursday, will be a highlight of the five-day tour, which will also include a trip to Stutthoff concentration camp, a meeting with Angela Merkel, and a tour of the European Solidarity Movement museum led by Lech Wałęsa.

In Poland, 3,000 Union flags are being raised in Gdansk to welcome the Duke and Duchess, who will enjoy the national dish of pierogi before being presented with a gift of amber, for which the region is famous.

The trip begins in Warsaw, before the Duke and Duchess move to Gdansk on Tuesday followed by Berlin, Heidelberg and finishing in Hamburg on Friday.