William and Kate were today showered with daffodils as crowds braved the rain to see them during a visit to Wales ahead of St David’s Day.
The Prince and Princess of Wales beamed as delighted royal fans handed the couple flowers on a dreary day in Llanidloes, Powys.
Daffodils – the main national symbol of Wales – were very much the theme on this late Winter day where Kate was handed bouquets by excited punters queueing up for a chance to see the royals.
A vase filled with the yellow flowers was placed on the table as the Princess chatted to members of the public in a cafe.
The Waleses even had daffodils pinned on their lapels during the heart-warming royal engagement just days before the celebration of the nation’s patron saint.
Earlier, Kate had lifted an umbrella to shelter from the pouring rain as she greeted Powys locals, many of whom were waving Welsh flags.
She and William were on their way to meet volunteers at the Hanging Gardens centre during a visit aiming to celebrate community.
There they watched metal being forged and helped those at the cafe prepare for St David’s Day.
The pair were then expected to move on to Oriel Davies, a contemporary art gallery in Newtown, where they are set to join a workshop before viewing young people’s work.
They will also practise their Welsh with a local Welsh learners’ group in the Gallery Café before moving on to Hafan yr Afon, a community land trust, and meeting more volunteers.
The visit proved a welcome break from the mounting chaos engulfing the Royal Family in the wake of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest last Thursday on suspicion of misconduct in public office. This was after he had been accused of leaking secrets to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein while serving as the UK’s trade envoy.
He was released under investigation after 11 hours in custody and police last night confirmed they had concluded searches of his former Windsor mansion, Royal Lodge.
On Sunday Prince William told an audience at the EE BAFTA Film Awards he is ‘not in a calm state’ to watch Hamnet after months of turmoil around his wife’s cancer and his uncle’s arrest.
Their glamorous appearance at the EE BAFTA Film Awards with his wife, the Princess of Wales, on Sunday night signalled a determination to put the Royal Family’s current difficulties to one side.
But it appeared that issues around Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor weren’t far from Prince William’s mind as he admitted he had not yet watched best picture nominee Hamnet because he needed to be in a calm mood.
Speaking on the carpet before the star-studded event at The Royal Festival Hall, he said: ‘I need to be in quite a calm state and I am not at the moment. I will save it.’
But Catherine, he said, had watched the hugely emotional film on Saturday night and was left in ‘floods of tears’.
Hamnet tells the story of the tragic death in childhood of Shakespeare’s son and the grief of his parents.
‘I thought it was a bad idea, actually,’ the princess joked of watching the film before the ceremony. ‘Ended up with very puffy eyes. It was so beautifully shot. The music as well. The score is fantastic.’
The Princess looked stunning in pink floor-length Gucci gown, which she previously wore to a 100 Women in Finance Gala back in 2019, with her long hair curled wild and loose.
William wore a complementary dark red velvet tuxedo jacket that matched his wife’s velvet belt and clutch bag.
They were joined by stars including Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Emma Stone, Cillian Murphy, Glenn Close and Ethan Hawke on the red carpet before the black-tie ceremony hosted by Scottish actor Alan Cumming.
The Prince and Princess had walked the red carpet outside London’s Royal Festival Hall, where they were welcomed by Sir Kenneth Olisa, Lord Lieutenant of Greater London.
The Princess shared her appreciation of the Chloe Zhao film’s ‘presentation of intergenerational grief’.
She added: ‘We have a long list of films that we still need to get through.’
The couple were making their first joint appearance since Andrew’s dramatic arrest last week.
William said he had not yet seen Marty Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet, and described the vampire movie Sinners as ‘a bit dark’.
‘I have seen One Battle After Another, that was very good. We were not expecting it to start the way it did,’ he said.
The Princess also revealed how Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are now taking a greater interest in films.
Emily Stillman, Chair of Bafta’s Film Committee, told her: ‘Last time I saw you, you were pregnant with George and you were doing your Harry Potter spells.’
She was referring to the royal couple’s 2013 visit, along with Prince Harry, to the Warner Brothers studios in Hertfordshire, where they toured the set of Harry Potter with Prince Harry.
‘I was saying how much the children would love to look around,’ she replied. ‘They love the idea of going behind the scenes and finding out how it all happens.’
She also praised the studios for ‘showcasing all the different career opportunities’ there are in film.
Inside, they chatted to an all-female line-up of BAFTA executives: CEO Jane Millichip and Chair Sara Putt, Chair of the Film Committee Emily Stillman and Emma Baehr, Executive Director Awards and Content.
Speaking again about Hamnet to Southbank Centre CEO Elaine Bedell and Allison Kirkby, CEO of sponsors BT Group, Catherine praised the child actors, saying: ‘The children did so well.’
She went on: ‘I loved the connection to nature… it’s very stripped back and you see the human emotions.’
Again referring to her own children, she added: ‘The children are starting to get interested in films and it’s a really great way to have some of the hard conversations with them.’
The Prince has been President of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts since 2010 and the royal couple have been a regular fixture at the prestigious awards ceremony over the years.
But the Princess has not attended for the past two years while recovering from her cancer diagnosis.
