Looking Back at Kate Middleton's First Ever Official Engagement
On a windy day in February almost exactly 10 years ago, the world’s media descended on a small costal village in north Wales. Preparations had been in place for weeks as Trearddur Bay in Anglesey geared up to be the backdrop for one of the most talked about royal appearances in recent memory. Following the engagement announcement of Prince William and Kate the previous November, the bride-to-be was making her debut as a working royal at a lifeboat naming ceremony on the promenade.
Kate’s appearance on February 24, 2011, would become one of many public outings she would go on to make over the next decade as she gradually cemented herself as a key player in the family business know as "The Firm." But back then, her much-anticipated introduction to royal life followed years of being shielded from the full glare of the limelight as William’s girlfriend with no official role.
“We knew about a month or so before it was released that they were coming, so we were sworn to secrecy more or less. And fair play to everybody, nobody let on for weeks,” Dafydd Griffiths, a volunteer at Trearddur Bay Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), recalls. Once the news became public 10 days before the event however, hotels and guest houses in the area started booking up as global excitement swirled around the couple and their upcoming wedding.
I was among the many reporters who traveled to Anglesey that day, parking myself amidst a crowd of around 2,000 who gathered behind barriers, wrapped up to protect against the cold in jackets, hats, and scarves. The location had been deliberately chosen because William and Kate had made a seaside cottage in Anglesey their home while the Prince worked as an RAF Search and Rescue Pilot. There were people in the crowd who had traveled from further afield, but most were from the nearby area that had embraced the royal couple as one of their own. “She’s a local now. We’ve heard she was in Argos the other day,” one 10-year-old in the crowd told the Guardian, while a 13-year-old said of William: “He’s often in the burger bar at Valley.”
In addition to her obligatory pouring of champagne over the side of the lifeboat, which was named the Hereford Endeavour, Kate earned praise for singing the Welsh national anthem and was also given rave reviews on her first ever royal “walkabout.” “They’re such friendly, down-to-earth people, lovely. I was quite surprised how down-to-earth they were to be honest, I think everyone will tell you that,” Dafydd remembers. His then-4-year-old daughter Katie presented Kate with a framed photograph of the lifeboat. “She remembers it like it was yesterday as well, it was a big thing for all of us,” he recalls. Unsurprisingly, royal superfans had also made the journey to north Wales in hope of meeting the newest member of the family. Colin Edwards gave Kate a framed photograph of William as a child, to which she exclaimed: “Look at his knees!”
People hung onto her every word as the visit was covered by outlets from the BBC to US celebrity magazines. Photographers lucky enough to be accredited clamored to get the best shots. Journalists hoping to hear and see more from the woman who will one day be our queen—but until then had been very much off limits when it came to access—chatted to the crowds and craned our necks to catch the comments from her that were within earshot. It was the days before every moment was recorded on smartphones and immediately posted to social media. But still, the wall of people and cameras, all eyes on Kate, undoubtedly would have been a lot of pressure. Yet, in a sign of things to come, if she had felt the strain, she certainly didn't show it.
Indeed, this was just one of many ways in which Kate’s first appearance gave us a glimpse of the royal she would become. From her decision to wear a plain coat from her existing wardrobe rather that something glamorous or new, to the length time she spent talking to the crowds; there were clear signs from the beginning that she would be a down-to-earth Duchess. Even the fact that William gave a speech and joked, “I do the talking, she does the fun bit,” was a preface to the fact that public speaking was perhaps the only thing Kate didn’t take to immediately.
“It put Trearddur Bay on the map,” says Dafydd Griffiths of the day, adding: “We have tourism more because people know it’s here. It did a great deal of good for the area, we were chuffed...To have somebody so important to name our boat, we were made up, really made up.” And, just like the Duchess, the RNLI lifeboat she launched that day has gone on to perform its duty impeccably. Manned by dedicated volunteers including Dafydd, the Hereford Endeavour has carried out rescues from assisting stricken vessels with engine problems to helping someone in difficulty after swallowing sea water. “The boat’s saved a lot of lives to be honest, since then,” says Dafydd. “It’s been a good boat, it’s brought us back every time, that’s the main thing.”
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