After more than a year, we are slowly but surely returning to the old Royal days. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had their first ‘away day’ after the Christmas lockdown and visited farmers Clare Wise and Stewart Chapman on their family farm – Manor in County Durham. A fun fact, the Middleton Home in Berkshire is also called has the same name – ‘The Manor’.
Ahead of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s 10th Wedding Anniversary on Thursday, the visit was a tribute to the magical era of Royal Wedding 2011. The destinations included some charities that benefited from the couple’s wedding fund. 26 charities were chosen by William and Catherine in 2011 to benefit from donations made to their Royal Wedding Charitable Gift Fund. In total over £1m was raised by the fund which was set up so that anyone wishing to give them a wedding gift could make a charitable donation instead.
The visit was also Prince William and Catherine’s first joint out-of-London engagement. A happy reminder of the old days and hope for the better days ahead. The couple flew to the countryside and arrived at the Teesside airport.
We were delighted to welcome The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to @TeesAirport this morning👑
William and Kate flew into Teesside to attend their first official in-person engagement away from London this year
We’re so proud to support the Royal Family here at Teesside Airport💙 pic.twitter.com/dJ08fYM96w
— Teesside International Airport (@TeesAirport) April 27, 2021
At the Manor farm, William and Catherine heard first-hand how British farmers are delivering for the nation and the environment.
The fifth-generation family farm has a high-quality sheep enterprise and a herd of 60 continental suckler cows, both supplying Morrisons. The arable rotation includes wheat, barley, beans, and grassland. The family has also modernised the farm over the past 10 years, investing heavily in new buildings and technology. Clare and Stewart told the couple about protecting the welfare of their livestock, as well as some of the tools used at the farm including land rotation and feed sampling, to improve productivity and ensure that they are able to give back to the environment and increase sustainability.
The Duchess of Cambridge received a floral welcome. Four-year-old Wren Chapman presented her with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and wheat bound with British wool. About the visit, owner Clare said,
We were absolutely delighted to host The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today. We’re thrilled that they wanted to shine a light on the importance of a mixed farming system and a family farm, as we believe we’re the backbone of the industry. We showed them how we’re using affordable technology on the farm to push our business forward, to hopefully be able to meet our net zero goals and have a really bright and optimistic future.
The Royal couple then joined a discussion with seven farmers from across North Yorkshire and County Durham who are supported by the National Farmers Union about their experiences of the last year, including the mental health impact of COVID-19 for farmers and the challenges of balancing home-schooling with farm work. Ahead of the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow later this year, the group also spoke about the work that is being carried out across the industry to improve environmental impact and help deliver the UK’s commitment to ‘net zero’ carbon emissions.
An outdoor event and we don’t see The Duke and Duchess doing something exciting – well, that’s not even a possibility. Both William and Catherine get behind the wheel of a hi-tech tractor guided by a GPS.
Prince William does some farming at the family’s country home Anmer Hall and is hugely involved with the management of Duchy of Cornwall that has a big part of farming activities. William will one day inherit the Dukedom and will be responsible for its management. NFU North East regional director Adam Bedford, who also joined the discussion, said,
It was an incredibly proud day for the region’s farmers, who were given a wonderful opportunity to sit down with Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and talk openly about their farming passions – everything from sheep welfare to soil improvement – and how they have coped over the past year.
The Royal couple spent some time with Clare and Stewart’s children – Clover, Penelope, and Wren who were very excited to meet the Royal visitors of their farm. William and Catherine met with the children’s pet lambs Dumbledore and Heather.
They didn’t believe us at first, they thought we were playing a joke on them! Certainly for the children, the Duchess, who they just think is beautiful and wonderful, it is a real-life princess come to visit – it does’t get much better for little girls does it.
She added: ‘I think being the younger royals it has been lovely for our children because they are role models for our children and it has been a really special moment’.
And for them to actually be so knowledgeable about farming and for us to be able to have what’s felt like a really beneficial discussion on both sides, I hope they’ve gone away perhaps having learned something and we have come away having learned some new things too, so that’s great.
Next, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Cheesy Waffles Project, which supports children, young people, and adults with additional needs aged 7 to 35 from across County Durham. It receives support from The Key, one of 26 charities chosen to benefit from 2011 royal wedding donations.
During their visit to the Cheesy Waffles Project, they met a group taking part in a project currently going through The Key Framework and heard how they have found the process of working to deliver a wellbeing and mindfulness project. The Duke and Duchess also heard more about the other initiatives that are delivered by the CWP. During the visit, they met Evan and Lee, who finished The Duke of Edinburgh awards.
William told Evan and Lee, ‘“Do you know he was my grandfather? Sadly he died a few weeks ago. He would have been so pleased that you got your awards.”
And then it was time for a bit of sport. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge played golf with children. Catherine first time missed her shot but hit the ball perfectly well on her second try.
Moving towards, What The Duchess Wore – Catherine brought back many familiar pieces from her wardrobe back.
The new element in the look was her Seeland Woodcock Advanced Women’s Jacket.
The £169.99 jacket was described as, “A quintessentially British looking ladies shooting jacket designed for Game bird shooting with total waterproof protection for the changeable weather and of course its classic traditional herringbone good looks. The Women’s Woodcock advanced shooting coat is an elegant and stylish ladies coat designed with a unique attention to detail and functionality which looks the part for a day’s game bird shooting or with country boots in an urban environment.”
Underneath the coat, The Duchess of Cambridge was wearing her Troy London x Brora Fair Isle Jumper that she first wore during the Royal Train Tour in December 2020.
And her Sézane Marguerite blouse and blue jeans.
To visit the Cheesy Waffles, The Duchess of Cambridge changed into her Barbour Longshore jacket.
During the time on the farm, The Duchess of Cambridge was wearing her trusty Penelope Chilvers tassel boots.
And then swapped them with her See by Chloe Leather-trimmed suede ankle boots.
The Duchess of Cambridge finished her look with £15 Orelia London Chain Huggie Hoop earrings debuted last month.
I am really hopeful that we will be receiving a couple of unseen pictures tomorrow evening or Thursday morning marking the 10th Wedding Anniversary of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. In amazing news, Kate’s Rangers on Twitter are celebrating ’10 Years of Will and Kate’ with an Amazing Baby Basics Fundraiser.
