A Big Last Minute Change to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's Inaugural King's Cup Sailing Race
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been forced to change the date of their inaugural King’s Cup sailing race at the last minute due to adverse weather conditions. Prince William and Kate Middleton were due to go head to head in the major regatta on Friday but the event has now been moved to Thursday afternoon because of a weather warning issued for strong winds and rain the following day.
Members of the public are still invited to watch the race in Cowes on the Isle of Wight and cheer on the couple and other participants as they compete on behalf of he royals’ charitable causes. William and Kate will be skippers of two of the eight boats, with the other teams being led by celebrity ambassadors. Each Fast-40 boat represents one of eight charities that the royals support.
William’s four causes are Child Bereavement UK, Counterpoint, London’s Air Ambulance Charity 30th Anniversary campaign and Tusk. The Duke will compete on behalf of Child Bereavement UK, with English footballer Fara Williams, historian Dan Snow, and adventurer Bear Grylls representing his other charities.
Kate is competing on behalf of the Royal Foundation and will be joined by comedian John Bishop for Action on Addiction, children’s TV presenter Katie Thistleton for Place2Be, and British Olympic rower Helen Glover for the Anna Freud Centre.
The race is not the first time that The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who are notoriously competitive, have gone head to head in a sailing competition. During their visit to New Zealand in 2014 they tried their hand at racing America’s Cup sailing boats in Auckland. Keen sailor Kate beat her husband twice, with William joking “We were sabotaged.”
On Thursday the winning team will be awarded the King’s Cup which is a historic trophy first presented by King George V at Cowes’ Royal Yacht Squadron in 1920. In a statement, Kensington Palace said: “Their Royal Highnesses hope that The King’s Cup will become an annual event, bringing greater awareness to the wider benefits of sport, whilst also raising support and funds for the causes that The Duke and Duchess support.”
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