Beaming Kate delights crowds in foggy Grimsby

Kate, whose helicopter from Kensington Palace was severely delayed due to adverse weather, smiled as flag-waving crowds chanted “We want Kate”.

With her baby bump visible beneath her chocolate-coloured three-quarter length Hobbs coat, the Duchess began her visit at the North East Lincolnshire town’s National Fishing Heritage Centre at 12.45pm - her first of three engagements today.

A Palace official said her helicopter, which took off at around 11am, landed at Humberside Airport an hour and a quarter later than expected due to fog but Kate will complete her visit as planned.

On her arrival at the dockside museum, the Duchess met local dignitaries before being given a tour of the centre, which celebrates the region’s strong fishing heritage.

Former trawlerman John Vincent, now a guide, showed her around the award-winning museum, with its mocked-up 1950s high street complete with a traditional pub, which he and Kate called into.

She also discussed environmental issues, such as the sustainability of North Sea fishing, with local trawler owner Kurt Christensen.

Mr Vincent said: “It’s been fantastic, a great honour. She’s a great lady.

“She was very knowledgeable and asked some very good questions. We had a bit of a laugh going round too.

“I wished her all the best with her pregnancy and asked her to give my regards to William and Harry and bring them down here.”

On leaving the museum, the Duchess made a beeline for the excited crowds, who shook her hand and presented her with flowers and a teddy bear.

Six-year-old Zara Williams had been waiting with her family since 9.30am to meet the royal visitor.

Zara, from nearby Goxhill, presented Kate with a bunch of pink roses and said: “She was really pretty. She was really nice to me and I liked her clothes.”

The Duchess was greeted with loud cheers by the crowd gathered outside Grimsby’s Peaks Lane Fire Station.

Around 200 people bordered the streets outside the station, some had been waiting in brisk temperatures for nearly three hours to see Kate.

She was met by local dignitaries before making an unplanned stop on her way into the building to meet around 10 adults and children who were patients at nearby St Andrew’s Hospice.

Stooping slightly to talk to a group of women, who were wrapped in blankets as they sat in their wheelchairs, Kate shared a loud laugh with them.

Claire Moss-Smith, 86, said she had said to the Duchess: “I’m waiting for you to be Queen.”

Kate laughed, she said, and replied: “You might be waiting a long time.”

Peter Foot, a 76-year-old day patient at the hospice, stood up from his wheelchair to bow as Kate made her way over to him.

“She said ‘sit down’,” he said, “I explained that I could not stand for very long and that’s why I’m in the chair.”

He went on: “I was always taught to be a gentleman because my mother taught me that’s the thing to do.”

Mr Foot said Kate asked him how long he had lived in the area and he told her some of the details of his working life.

“She’s brilliant and I hope she’s the next queen,” he added.

Joan Riley, 82, said meeting the Duchess was worth the hour’s wait in the cold.

“I said it’s a wonderful thing to be able to tell our grandchildren, that we met the future queen,” she said.

Once inside, Kate met young people involved with the Prince of Wales’ flagship charity The Prince’s Trust, and the visit was the first time she had met people on the ground involved with the charity. Some were past members who had been part of the scheme, while others were part-way through the 12-week programme delivered in partnership with Humberside Fire and Rescue Service.

The Trust’s Team programme is a 12-week personal development scheme which helps unemployed 16 to 25-year-olds build the skills and confidence they need to get a job.

As well as meeting with the young people, Kate was also introduced to the fire crews working at the station and shown the fleet of fire engines.

She was shown a fire pole inside the station and said: “That reminds me of the scene in the Bridget Jones film.”

In the movie, the character Bridget Jones is made to slide down a fire pole as part of her job as a television journalist but makes an ungracious landing on top of the cameraman.

Kate was presented with a posy by 11-year-old Evie Oxley, whose father Pete is a firefighter at the Peaks Lane station.

He was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2008 and is currently undergoing treatment, while his wife and Evie’s mother, Natalie, was recently given the all clear after battling breast cancer for two years.

After meeting the Duchess Evie said: “It was very scary at first but I really enjoyed it, she was really nice.”

Evie, who goes to Healing Primary School, said Kate asked her about her swimming and told her she had been brave with her parents both being ill.

Mr Oxley, who also met Kate, said he is just about to start a new course of treatment after one failed and although the disease is incurable he will be able to live with it for a number of years.

Evie said: “It’s tough at times, it’s just sort of hard, but you have to get over it sometimes and just be brave because if you’re not brave then the person who’s ill isn’t going to be brave either.”

After the 50 minute visit Kate was presented with flowers by local children before getting into a waiting car.

Hundreds of cheering pupils lined the approach to the Havelock Academy and waved flags as the Duchess of Cambridge entered the building.

She was shown around the school, which opened in 2011, by principal Nigel Whittle and met students taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award - a programme that encourages self-development in young people through activities.

Jasmine Grierson, 15, a student who is taking part in the award scheme, said: “She said she had done the Duke of Edinburgh Award too and when she did it she went to the Lake District, so it was nice to have something in common.

“She was a lot more normal than I expected and easy to talk to.”

The Duchess also watched as students painted lilies similar to the bouquet she held on her wedding day.

Art teacher Tracy Atkinson said Kate seemed very well informed about art.

“She was clearly knowledgeable - you could tell by the things she was talking to us about - and very very appreciative,” Ms Atkinson said.