Mist clears as delayed Duchess lightens gloom

Kate, whose helicopter from Kensington Palace was severely delayed by the adverse weather, arrived in a cold, foggy Grimsby more than an hour late, but that did not dampen the delight of the hundreds who turned out to see her.

With her pregnancy visible beneath her chocolate-coloured three-quarter length Hobbs coat, the Duchess began her visit at the National Fishing Heritage Centre, the first of three engagements.

There, she met local dignitaries before being given a tour of the centre, which celebrates the region’s 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.

“It’s been fantastic, a great honour,” said Mr Vincent. “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.”

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, where about 200 people lined the streets, some of whom had been waiting in the cold for nearly three hours.

She made an unplanned stop on her way in to meet about 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.”

Joan Riley, 82, said meeting the Duchess was worth the wait.

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

Inside, Kate met young people involved with the Prince of Wales’ flagship charity The Prince’s Trust; the visit was the first time she had met people on the ground involved with the charity.

Kate was also introduced to the fire crews working at the station and shown the fleet of fire engines – as well as a fire pole inside the station, of which she joked: “That reminds me of the scene in the Bridget Jones film.”

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 undergoing treatment, while his wife and Evie’s mother, Natalie, was recently given the all clear after battling breast cancer for two years.

Evie said Kate told her she had been brave with her parents both being ill.

Another large crowd, including hundreds of cheering pupils, lined the approach to Havelock Academy and waved flags as the Duchess arrived to officially open the school.

She was shown around by principal Nigel Whittle and met students taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Jasmine Grierson, 15, who is on the 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 watched a medley of Queen songs performed by the Academy’s students before unveiling a plaque, and then just before 4pm it was over as she was whisked away in a waiting car.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first child in July, and the Prince of Wales spoke yesterday of his excitement at the prospect of bonding with his first grandchild.

“It’s a lovely thought and I look forward enormously to that relationship” he said.