Oarsome Wills beats Kate in royal boat race
FOR William and Kate, a royal tour usually means a chance to show their competitive side.
And, preferably, it involves messing about on the water.
So yesterday the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge renewed their rivalry with a third royal boat race.
They coxed rival rowing eights on the River Neckar in the historic German city of Heidelberg, with William claiming victory.
Afterwards he celebrated by smashing open a barrel of beer with a mallet, as Kate joked: ‘I will let you do that. It’s a man’s job.’
She drowned her sorrows by raising a stein and saying, ‘Prost!’ – the German for ‘Cheers!’ – to the delight of the many onlookers.
William’s victory in the race gave him a two-one lead over his wife in their unofficial contest. The duke won a dragon race in Canada in 2011 but three years later the duchess won a yachting head-to-head in Auckland, New Zealand.
Before yesterday’s race, Kate changed from the styl- ish yellow Jenny Packham dress she wore on a walkabout in the city into sporty navy leggings, white trainers and a Hugo Boss turquoise and white-striped top.
While most of the crews were amateur rowers from Heidelberg and Cambridge, its twin town, Kate had one advantage in her crew – Olympic champion Filip Adamski, from the winning German eight at London 2012.
Kate jokingly told her crew: ‘No pressure, but I do want to beat my husband!’ However, William’s crew triumphed, with the duke punching the air in celebration.
The duchess seemed more relieved than disappointed at losing, telling her husband: ‘We didn’t crash!”’
She had told her crew she was worried about steering the boat but Adamski assured her everything would be fine. ‘If we crash, we crash together,’ he said. He admitted to pre-race nerves: ‘I have never raced with a princess before so I have butterflies in my stomach.’
During the race, Kate joked about her crew not doing a good job, telling them to pull faster, Adamski said, adding: ‘I was laughing, and could not focus on my rowing.’
‘I’ll let you do it. It’s a man’s job’