Day Kate and Wills popped in for tea with family who live in a hut
And Duchess took the hauntingly powerful photo portraits seen here
WHEN it comes to jam-packed Royal tours, meticulous scheduling, planned months in advance, is everything.
But the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ripped up the timetable for their high-profile Pakistan tour – to visit the home of a family they met by the side of the road. Kate and William spotted the villagers as the Royal convoy was threading its way through the remote Wakhan region as they travelled back from visiting a glacier in the Hindu Kush mountain range.
Enthralled, t he Duchess asked t he car they were travelling in to stop so she and William could meet the villagers – and one family promptly invited them to visit their home, a simple hut.
Despite raised eyebrows from aides and the Pakistani military, who have been helping to guard Kate and William during the tour, the pair entered the one-room home, accompanied only by a translator.
Inside, the family explained to the couple how they live without running water and electricity and are confined to their home for half of the year due to snow and freezing temperatures.
The Duchess – a keen photographer who has taken many official pictures of her children – then borrowed a Fujifilm camera from an aide to take pictures of the grandmother, mother and daughter, two of which are published here for the first time.
Describing the encounter, the Duchess said: ‘It was fantastic to meet these people living in such a remote place.
‘They were so hospitable, offering William and me a cup of tea.
‘It was a very special moment. They had no idea who we were, which gave us a chance to see a different side of Pakistan.
‘We really enjoyed the day in the mountains and meeting so many of the local people in the Kalash village, [it was] a real privilege to see a different way of life.’
And William paid tribute to his wife’s camera skills, highlighting their visit earlier on Wednesday to the Chiatibo glacier in Broghil National Park, northern Pakistan, to see the effects of climate change. ‘She likes taking lots of pictures,’ he said. ‘She does a few portraits, but mostly landscapes. When we went to see the glacier, she took some great photos up there.’ The five-day tour, which ended on Friday, has been judged a triumph. Despite tight security, the couple were relaxed, joking with dignitaries, locals and the press corps.
On Friday morning, the couple again chose to change their schedule, in order to return to an orphanage at the SOS Children’s Village
they had visited the previous day, because they felt they had only ‘touched the surface’.
Sitting cross-legged on the bare floor, Kate helped children to paint a mural, saying: ‘I do lots of drawing at home with my children.’
And when one youngster ment i oned England, Kate replied: ‘You’ll have to come and see us.’ The Duke then led the children in an impromptu game of cricket.
Kate had the children in giggles by feigning pain after being inadvertently hit on the neck with a foam ball by William, before the prince joked: ‘She’s my wife, so I can just about get away with it.’