Sweet moment Prince of Wales puts his arm around Kate as pair enjoy fun-filled day of engagements in Scotland (and William enjoys a cheeky pint!)

This is the sweet moment Prince William puts a loving arm around Princess Catherine as the couple enjoyed a day of engagements in Scotland.

The husband and wife, known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, were busy with back-to-back events as part of their visit to Stirling and Falkirk. 

The pair greeted members of the public after a visit to Radical Weavers, a working handweaving studio and charity, where they shared a heart-warming moment. 

As Catherine and William both greeted royal fans and took pictures with those eager to catch a glimpse of them, the prince placed his hand on her upper back. 

The Waleses were all smiles as they posed to take selfies with the crowd, and Princess Kate accepted flowers from onlookers. 

Later, the husband and wife visited ‘The Goth’ – short for ‘The Gothenburg’ – A pub in Fallin, a former mining village four miles east of Stirling.

As they arrived, the pair ignored a lone heckler who shouted: ”‘How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein? Have you been covering up for Andrew?’

Upon entering ‘The Goth’, William revealed that he ‘absolutely loves pubs’ and wants to help as he sat with a group of local men. 

Catherine refused a drink as she sat down at a table to speak to local school teachers while William nursed half a pint of cider.

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Named after a Swedish tradition where profits are funnelled back into the community, there were previously 50 ‘Goth’ pubs in the county, but now there are just four. 

Before the advent of the NHS, the tavern paid for a doctor and a nurse to help people living nearby.

Today, the two flats above the pub offer cheap rent to young people who are saving money to get on the housing ladder.

The pub has a long history in Fallin, which developed as a mining village around the Polmaise Colliery.

As well as providing a place for miners to drink after work, it also became a focal hub for the community, with supervisors able to keep tabs on workers drinking too much.

The village became well-known during the miners’ strike of the 1980s when workers were among the first to strike and the last to return during the protest.

Meanwhile, the future king was told how the pub continues to promote its strong links with the community, including a nearby bowls club, which dates back to 1911.

‘It’s crucial. It’s the human-to-human contact, isn’t it, rather than just being on the phone or watching TV,’ William said of hearing the pub’s impact.

Meanwhile, on another table, Catherine was given a crocheted bunny for her daughter, Princess Charlotte, by Adele Hodgson. 

The 70-year-old had taken up the hobby around a year ago and auctions off her creations to raise money for the local hospice, Strathcarron.

The princess said: ‘She will absolutely love that. She’s got lots of teddies on her bed. Well done, that must have taken a long time.Thank you so much.’

Before the royal couple left, Catherine spotted the prince’s unfinished drink and said: ‘You need to finish that.’

However, William simply laughed and replied that he wanted to stay on his ‘best behaviour’. 

The princess was then presented with a bouquet while William was given a Guinness glass engraved with the pub’s logo – and inside was a scroll gifting him ten shared of the business. 

Colin Campbell, 65, a retired engineer and another shareholder, described his encounter with the prince as ‘surreal.’

‘They said the King’s son was coming and I thought, obviously, it would be this one. For the last couple of weeks I’ve thought it was a wind up that they were coming.’

After leaving, the prince and princess crouched down to speak to some young children and their mothers who had come out to greet them.

William spoke to Jade Cousin, 33, and her daughter Sophie, 5, about what activities she was doing and her swimming lessons.

The couple’s visit to the pub comes shortly after they showcased their competitive side as they took to the ice to try their hand at curling earlier today.

Kicking off a busy ‘away day’ to Scotland, William and Catherine, known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, visited the National Curling Academy in Stirling to wish the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams good luck ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games that start in Milano-Cortina next month.

Curling, which sees players slide stones across the ice towards a target area, is one of Team GB and Paralympics GB’s most successful winter sports, earning six Olympic medals and two Paralympic medals to date.

But the prince and princess soon learned just how difficult it is to master the sport after being given a short introduction of how to throw the stone.

Skips Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds gave them a five-minute demonstration on how to push off from the rubber hack, a foothold in the ice, and use the slippery sole they were given to propel themselves forward.

After doing a few practice lunge motions, Catherine appeared apprehensive to take to the ice and told her husband: ‘You can go first.’

‘Are you sure?’ He replied. ‘It won’t make a difference.’

But he confidently took a stone and bent down into position, saying ‘here we go, let’s see what happens’ as he slid off.

Laughing, William said, ‘It’s not going very fast,’ but silver medallist Mouat reassured him that you usually have sweepers to help a stone reach the house – the target at the end of the ice strip.

Catherine then tentatively took to the 45-metre long sheet, holding onto her husband’s right arm as she carefully stepped onto the ice.

Hoisting her long skirt up and tucking her hair behind her ear, the princess got into position.

Appearing increasingly nervous to spring off, William told her: ‘Just lean on both Catherine,’ in reference to the red stone and the delivery stick, used for beginners to help steady themselves.

She then pushed off but immediately lost her balance. Laughing, she quickly regained control but in the commotion forgot to let go of the stone.

‘Come on,’ she said, having only managed to go a few metres in front of the starting point, before pushing the stone forward.

Keen to correct her mistake, she asked if she could have another go, and was delighted to be told by Nigel Holl, executive performance director from British curling, that they would now be going head to head.

With the help of two sweepers each, the future king and queen were challenged to get closest to the button, the centre of the house.

‘No pressure guys,’ the prince said, laughing.

William started confidently, with the princess saying: ‘You’re doing very well’ as it finished on the outer blue ring.

‘Good sweeping,’ the prince told Rebecca Morrison and Grant Hardie, who used brooms to increase the stone’s speed.

Clarifying how to push off properly, Catherine got into position, clearly determined to do better than her husband.

Having managed to successfully throw the stone, she looked on anxiously as it was swept.

‘Come on, come on, keep going,’ she said as it approached the house.

When it stopped right in the middle, Catherine high-fived Dodds, who was part of the gold medal winning team at the last Winter Olympics, and celebrated with a fist pump in the air.

The prince and princess had arrived at the state of the art training centre 35 minutes later than planned, as they stopped off to take a closer look at The Kelpies in Falkirk.

The couple posed for a photo in front of the striking 30‑metre‑tall steel horse‑head sculptures that embody the fusion of Scotland’s rich heritage and mythology with the power of Scottish industry and engineering.

Arriving at the centre to cheers from members of the public, William and Catherine stopped to shake hands with the well wishers.

They then made their way to the curling centre inside the building, which is also home to a swimming pool, gym, indoor sports hall and a climbing wall, with the princess stopping to change out of her heeled boots and drop off her blue tartan coat.

Inside, the prince and princess spoke to each of the Women’s, men’s and para Team GB players in turn.

Captivated by the sport as play continued on the four rinks, Catherine asked about the upcoming Olympic Games: ‘Do you feel ready for this moment after so much training going on?’

While chatting to Mouat’s team, they heard how the four men narrowly lost out on a gold medal to Sweden after a sudden-death extra end at the 2022 Beijing Games.

With the same team selected again this year, Catherine told them: ‘One better this year.’

They were then shown how the game is adapted for wheelchair athletes, and were surprised to hear that no sweepers were involved.

Jo Butterfield told the couple that she won club throw gold at Rio 2016 before switching from Para athletics to wheelchair curling in 2023.

 

 

She spoke of her ambition to become the first British athlete to win gold at both summer and winter Paralympic Games.

Her mixed doubles partner Jason Kean was desperate to get a picture with the royal guests, and the couple gladly obliged.

Though William was worried they were too far away and told him: ‘Come back a bit Jason, otherwise I’ll slip on the ice!’

Meanwhile Hugh Nibloe, the only member of the squad to have competed at a Paralympic Winter Games before, told Catherine that they shared the same birthday, prompting a sweet hug from the princess.

On the way out, the couple stopped for selfies and handshakes, despite being hurried by staff as they were running considerably behind schedule.

William repeatedly told well-wishers that they had just given curling a try for the first time.

‘It’s harder than it looks,’ he said. ‘If you don’t have a sweeper you’ve got no chance!’

The Curling Academy, which opened in August 2017, just months before the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, has transformed Team GB’s training.

Its creation has allowed British Curling to stay at the forefront of the sport, responding to the need for the programme to give all of the athletes year-round access to high quality ice, which was not previously available in the UK.

In Beijing 2022, the teams secured a gold and silver medal, marking the only podium finishes for Team GB.

Speaking afterwards, Morrison, 28, said it was ‘such an honour and pleasure’ to meet the Prince and Princess of Wales today and hoped their visit raises the profile of the sport.

The first time Olympian said: ‘You just don’t get opportunities like that, so for us to be chosen as a sport that they came and visited was just amazing. They were so lovely to speak to and they were brilliant at curling.’

But she sat on the fence when asked who was more of a natural on the rink: ‘I can’t go there, I think they were both brilliant. I was very impressed with both of their slides.’

The next stop of the day will be at Radical Weavers, a tartan-weaving studio and independent charity in Stirling.

The organisation was established in 2019 and aims to help to tackle social isolation and support people affected by trauma and loss by offering the chance to learn traditional Scottish tartan-weaving skills in a safe and welcoming environment.

The couple will meet with Mairi Breslin, founding director of Radical Weavers, to learn about the heritage of Scottish tartan weaving.

They will also be told about how tartan-weaving can be a therapeutic experience and help people who have experienced trauma to gain confidence.

The Prince and Princess will be offered the opportunity to take part in weaving tartan themselves alongside others in the studio, including weaving a small piece of Radical Weavers’ latest project – creating the world’s longest tartan scarf.

Their final engagement of the day is embargoed for security reasons – but promises to be equally lively.