Kate soars as Queen thanks us all for our kindness
THE Duchess of Cambridge took her husband’s usual role in the pilot’s seat yesterday – as William was left holding her handbag.
‘This is going to be interesting,’ joked the duke – an RAF-trained search and rescue helicopter pilot – as Kate took control of a simulator.
‘I’ll hold the handbag,’ he added. But, reviving her family history of flight, she elegantly guided the Grob tutor, a light aircraft used to teach thousands of young air cadets.
The duchess, whose father Michael was a commercial pilot and mother Carole a BA flight attendant, was on a visit to 282 (East Ham) Squadron, Air Training Corps in east London.
Alongside her husband, she chatted to cadets about the life skills they gain during their time with the ATC.
The visit was their first engagement since the death of Prince Philip on April 9 and the couple wore black as a mark of respect. Meanwhile cadets honoured him with a cry of ‘three cheers for the Duke of Edinburgh’.
Philip was the Air Commodore-inChief of the Air Training Corps for 63 years before he passed on the patronage to the duchess in 2015.
And Kate has further aeronautical lineage through her paternal grandfather Peter, who accompanied Prince Philip during his royal flying tour of South America in 1962.
The visit came as the Queen (pictured with her late husband) spoke out for the first time since the duke’s death to thank wellwishers ‘within the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and around the world across the globe’.
In a message released on her 95th birthday, Her Majesty said she and her family were in a ‘period of great sadness’ but were comforted by words of praise for Philip, who died peacefully at Windsor aged 99.
The monarch, who was seen yesterday driving in Windsor, said: ‘My family and I would like to thank you all for the support and kindness shown to us in recent days. ‘We have been deeply touched, and continue to be reminded that Philip had such an extraordinary impact on countless people throughout his life.’