William and Kate’s visit to city is welcome break
BIG DRAW: CROWDS TURN OUT TO GREET ROYAL COUPLE IN BRADFORD
THE DUKE and Duchess of Cambridge put a brave face on their family troubles as they stepped out in front of large crowds in the centre of Bradford yesterday.
William and Kate used their first official engagement of the year to visit community projects which promote cohesion in the country’s most diverse city.
Hundreds of well-wishers, as well as a ceremonial drummer, were on hand to meet them but the cheers could not entirely drown out the controversy that has engulfed their family since the announcement by William’s brother and sister-in-law of their intention to step down from its front rank.
Following Monday’s summit, Buckingham Palace confirmed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would begin a “transition period” in which they would split their time between the UK and Canada. Yesterday it emerged that Meghan’s estranged father, Thomas Markle, could give evidence against her in her legal battle with The Mail On Sunday.
The paper’s legal team accused the Duchess of being more worried about the “unflattering” effect caused by the publication of letter extracts she wrote to her father than by any breach of her data protection rights.
In Bradford, William and Kate helped make milkshakes at a restaurant named after Pakistan’s self-styled food capital, Lahore.
We were semi-loyal, now we’re fully-loyal.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge win over retired bus driver, Arshad Mir.
OTHER THAN religion, the subjects most likely to stimulate an instant discussion are the Royal Family and football, and as the Duke of Cambridge stepped out in Yorkshire yesterday, he was sticking to the latter.
As speculation mounted that his sister-in-law could face a showdown in court with her estranged father, William steered the conversation away from the family feud and towards his favourite subject, Aston Villa.
He and Kate were mobbed by several hundred well-wishers in the shadow of Bradford’s Victorian City Hall, as they began their first official visit of the year.
The couple were in the city to meet students and employers helping young people to get jobs in one of the country’s most diverse communities.
But as William stopped to engage in pleasantries, it was the fate of Villa’s injured goalkeeper, Tom Heaton, that appeared uppermost on his mind.
“Poor Tom, it’s a horrible injury,” he told David Baldwin, chief executive of Burnley FC.
He had raised Villa’s fortunes only the previous day, during an investiture ceremony at the Palace.
His wife was also doing her best to divert attention from the fallout from Monday’s Sandringham summit, in which the Queen agreed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could step back as senior Royals and begin a new and “independent” life.
Kate emerged into the crowd wearing an eye-catching military style khaki coat by the British designer, Alexander McQueen.
Beneath the coat, she wore a
black and white tartan pussybow dress from high street retailer Zara, which she paired with gold drop earrings by Zeen, the Pakistani jewellery designer whom she favoured during the Royal visit to Pakistan in October.
Arshad Mir, a retired bus driver, had joined the throng because he had been impressed by that expedition.
“We were semi-loyal, now we’re fully-loyal,” Mr Mir said.
Others might now see the couple in Bradford and conclude that the city also “can’t be that bad,” he added.
Kate emerged from City Hall to speak to children waving Union flags, and smiled as one little girl presented her with a small bouquet of flowers.
She and William went on to the MyLahore restaurant, where they met students from Bradford College taking part in an apprenticeship scheme.
The couple made mango and kulfi milkshakes in the kitchen, under the guidance of operations director, Ishfaq Farooq.
“Delicious”, said William, after adding ice cream to his drink, mixing it with a blender and taking a sip.
William and Kate then got involved with a session of the Older Yet Wiser project, which supports grandparents with child-caring responsibilities.
As the group sang the “banana song”, Kate picked up 18-monthold Sorayah Ahmad and danced with her, helping her shake her rattle in time with the music.
“Mush bananas, mush mush bananas” and “peel bananas, peel peel bananas”, they sang.
The Duchess then helped the smiling little girl play a game of peekaboo.
She also met children from the All Saints Church of England Primary and Rainbow Schools, and accepted a bouquet of flowers from teaching assistant Jamilla Butt.
The headteacher, John Davie, had brought along 50 pupils from years five and six who had a 100 per cent attendance record since September.
Having now seen a real Prince and Duchess, they would be “interested in learning how our country works in terms of democracy and the Royal Family,” he said.
Year six teacher Nadeem Rafiq took a selfie of himself with the Duchess. “It’s something I always wanted to do, meet a member of the Royal Family,” he said.