Giving us a royal surprise, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today had a very fun outing with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The Family of five attended a special performance of The National Lottery’s Pantoland at The Palladium, which was held to thank key workers and their families for their phenomenal efforts this year.
The National Lottery announced it on December 04th that it would host a special Pantoland show at The London Palladium for the key workers who have been helped by the National Lottery charity. Among the guests were National Health Service frontline workers, staff from the Metropolitan Police Service, London Ambulance Service, the military, the teaching profession, refuse collectors, delivery drivers and key retail workers. The National Lottery is currently supporting pantomimes at 10 theatres across the country, helping them to open their doors to the public safety by paying for the empty seats required for social distancing.
Prince George and Princess Charlotte‘s school term ended today and they are on holidays till January 05th. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at West End theatre, the Palladium, holding the hands of their children. The family was received by the performers dressed as elves on the red carpet. The enjoyed a juggler’s performance who was juggling artificial snowballs. Sir Ken Olisa, Lord Lieutenant of Greater London, welcomed them at the Theatre.
Pantomimes are a slapstick-style show, which is a family tradition around Christmas in Britain. Typically based on fairy tales, the farcical musicals can be laced with some innuendo-laden rhymes and songs and require frequent raucous interventions from the audience. They often have older men playing female parts, like the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella, or young women playing male leading roles like Peter Pan. The show was held under the strict COVID-19 rules of socially-distanced seating.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge earlier this week travelled across the nation to meet people, communities and organizations who have pulled out all the stops to help their communities during the pandemic. The Royals travelled on The Royal train and the tour ended with a happy Family reunion at the Windsor Castle where they joined Her Majesty The Queen. From Daily Mail’s report,
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, was in the audience and at the interval in the foyer the royal couple, wearing face masks, chatted to him briefly about their Royal Train tour earlier this week where acts funded by the Culture Recovery Fund performed at every stop. ‘Thank you for all the help on the train journey,’ William said.
It was the first time when Cambridge kids were present in the Royal box. Prince George and Princess Charlotte are getting more and more comfortable with these public outings. Little Louis is a Mama’s boy for sure. I would always call him the magic baby as his birth changed so many things in the world of Cambridge Family. I believe next year he will be starting Nursery too.
For the outing, Princess Charlotte was dressed in a grey and blue checkered dress while Prince George was looking smart in Ralph Lauren polo sweater.
The $50.99 Cable wool-Cashmere sweater is still available in all sizes. Thanks to Kate’s Royal Closet for the id. Prince Louis was wearing a blue Redwink jacket from Amaia Kids that was worn by Prince George in 2017. The Classic and beautiful boiled Austrian wool jacket is currently available for £85. Thanks to Gabi on Twitter for the id.
Update: mari_who on Twitter suggested that Princess Charlotte was wearing Sveva Dress’ by Il Porticciolo.
During the interval of the special performance, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge met a small number of key worker families to hear more about their experiences over the past year. From People’s report,
William and Kate spoke with Dom Warren, 35, and his wife Alex Warren, 33, from Hastings in East Sussex. The couple set up Dom’s Food Mission five years ago to use surplus food to help feed families in need. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they have seen demand rise dramatically and are currently providing 8,000 food parcels per month to families.
The royals thanked them for all their hard work, but William urged Dom to take it easy.“Look after yourself. You’ve got to look after yourself in the long term because then you can look after other people,” the future King said. Asked what the Cambridges had thought of the show so far, Dom said, “They said they thought it was amazing.”
As a child, Queen Elizabeth would perform her own pantomimes at Windsor Castle with her youngster sister Princess Margaret, during World War II. They would entertain friends — including a young Prince Philip, who would become her husband — and family and some of the staff who were on duty at the castle.
Speaking at the performance, The Duke of Cambridge said, “It’s wonderful to be back here in the West End and see theatres reopening their doors. Catherine, George, Charlotte, Louis and I are all really looking forward to the show. We are here tonight for a very special performance. Special, because of you – the key workers here in the audience. A huge congratulations to everyone involved from the London Palladium to Qdos Productions and of course the cast for all your hard work.” Prince William also paid a tribute to Dame Barbara Windsor, the legendary actress, who passed away last night. William said, “I want to pause and pay tribute to a true national treasure, Dame Barbara Windsor, who so sadly passed away last night…I know we’ll all miss her hugely.”
Thanking the frontline workers, The Duke said, “You include community workers, volunteers, teachers, NHS staff, representatives from the emergency services and military, researchers working on the vaccine, people helping the homeless, those manning vital call centres, and staff from a wide range of frontline charities – to name but a few. You have given your absolute all this year and made remarkable sacrifices. So to have your families, who I’m sure to have seen far less of you than they would have liked. It’s lovely that you are all here together tonight. You are representative of the huge number of people across the U.K. who have stepped forward to make a difference this year in so many crucial ways. The country owes you a huge debt of gratitude. I hope you all thoroughly enjoy yourselves this evening. It is the least we could do to thank you for everything you do – day in, day out – to keep our country safe and look after those who need help the most. From all of us – we wish you all a very Happy Christmas!“
For the evening, The Duchess was wearing another classic dress. The Duchess of Cambridge wore Alessandra Rich Petal Print Silk Dress. Thanks to Emily Collins for the id.
The navy and white Petal print dress featured a flared style, a ruffle trimming, a round neck, long sleeves, button cuffs, a straight hem and a mid-length.
Catherine paired the dress with her Simone Rocha Faux-pearl curb-chain earrings.
The Duchess of Cambridge carried a new bag today. It was Smythson Ludlow Concertina Crossbody Bag. Thanks to @acesasisi and @innominate_93 for the id.
Today, we also saw the glimpse of Cambridge Family’s Christmas picture. It was shared by an NHS worker who received a Christmas card from The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I would like to wait for the HD version before posting it. Hope we will receive it soon.
