Here are more photos of the Prince and Princess of Wales in Northern Ireland on Friday. This visit was not announced, but that’s because security issues still exist for the Windsors in Northern Ireland. Which means that all of the “surprise” or unannounced visits to places outside of Northern Ireland are kept quiet for non-security reasons. Anyway, the purpose of this visit was to highlight Prince William’s Homewards program, something about young people finding jobs and staying off the streets. One of the big employers in this area of Belfast? IKEA. So obviously, William and Kate had to stop by IKEA for a stunt photo-op. They had Kate working the register, like a peasant! They organize these little skits and we’re supposed to find it charming, that William and Kate are so patronizingly out-of-touch that they organize cutesy photo-ops where they pretend to “work” like an average person.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have surprised shoppers at Ikea in Belfast as they went behind the tills at the store’s cafe to serve customers. During a flying visit to Northern Ireland to champion Prince William’s Homewards initiative on Friday, the couple chatted with shoppers as they checked out the furniture shop’s cafe.
Speaking to one customer, the Princess asked: “Have you got a family card? Oh, you do!” She then handed their receipt to Ayla, a seven-year-old, who was being treated to chocolate by her grandmothers, Lorraine Magill and Margaret Broom.
Mrs Magill remarked that the Princess had “no problem” working the till, adding: “I didn’t expect it whatsoever, but it was lovely and she was really nice.”
On another till, Prince William dealt with a line of girls queueing to pay him for their after-school snacks.
Seamus McBrearty, the Ikea food manager, showed the heir to the throne how to work the cashier, and said afterwards: “It was good fun, I think he enjoyed it.”
It is understood the couple wanted to meet employers, public services and community organisations to see how they could create “the conditions for people to thrive through meaningful connections, a sense of belonging and opportunities to contribute – powerful tools in preventing homelessness”.
William and Kate’s play-acting “work” is why they visit so many pubs as well – anything for William to pretend to work at a bar, surrounded by alcohol. He loves that. Kate does not love all of these skits though – look at her face. She was already over this photo-op before it even started. She’s desperate to go back to her safe space, her wig-and-valium closet.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales meeting National businesses representatives during a visit to the IKEA store in Belfast, to learn about IKEA’s work in supporting care-experienced young people on their journey into employment Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Liam McBurney/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales visits The Commons in South Belfast. The Commons is a project that will transform the church at the heart of diverse and vibrant Ormeau Road community into a self sustaining community centre for all Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales visits The Commons in South Belfast. The Commons is a project that will transform the church at the heart of diverse and vibrant Ormeau Road community into a self sustaining community centre for all Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales visit The Commons in South Belfast. The Commons is a project that will transform the church at the heart of diverse and vibrant Ormeau Road community into a self sustaining community centre for all. Featuring: William, Prince of Wales, Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales visit The Commons in South Belfast. The Commons is a project that will transform the church at the heart of diverse and vibrant Ormeau Road community into a self sustaining community centre for all. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- The Princess of Wales serving customers during a visit to the IKEA store in Belfast, to learn about IKEA’s work in supporting care-experienced young people on their journey into employment Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Liam McBurney/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess of Wales serving customers during a visit to the IKEA store in Belfast, to learn about IKEA’s work in supporting care-experienced young people on their journey into employment Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Liam McBurney/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales during a visit to The Commons in South Belfast, which is a project that will transform a church at the heart of the diverse and vibrant Ormeau Road community into a self-sustaining community centre for all Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Princess of Wales, visit an Ikea store to learn about the company’s work supporting care-experienced young people on their journey into employment Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, Prince William Where: Belfast, United Kingdom When: 09 Oct 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
Gosh they both look in their 50s, Kate looks so frail .
That hair/wig is dragging all the life out of her .
Honestly my first thought, was how she has aged. Everyone posting she gets fillers, etc….but I don’t see it. I’m not criticizing, we’re all aging. It was just my first thought.
I can’t imagine what goes on at home to make her look a decade older than she is. Wait! Actually I can imagine it.
Interesting! I looked at the first pic at the top and went, “whoa!” her face looks like it’s frozen with so much Botox and fillers. (It could just be Photoshop, though, as we know it’s used heavily on Kkkhate.) Her eyes, while the eyebrows and upper lids are sky high, still look defeated and exhausted, though. Her life is abysmal from the outside. I can’t imagine what it’s really like.
It’s very visible in her neck. That rather surprised me. Age showing up in your neck usually happens later in life.
It’s not so much that she has aged drastically, but rather that the photo isn’t heavily retouched—unlike 99% of her pictures. That’s why they always bring their own team of videographers and photographers along; the footage goes to W&K first to be curated, retouched, and lately often AI-altered (like the post-polo match hug) before finally reaching the media. Sometimes, however, photos taken by independent photographers slip through—ones W&K missed or couldn’t control.
The fact that Kate is so thin doesn’t help, but all the Middleton women age quickly and unflatteringly. I remember photos of Kate around age 30 showing deep facial lines that were completely inappropriate for her age. Pippa and Carole were the same. Nowadays, they all use fillers and Botox, yet Kate still looks a decade older—and in that particular photo, easily over 60.
Meanwhile, articles show 43-year-old Meghan alongside 29-year-old Malala, looking like contemporaries.
It is said that one’s inner self shapes the face—something that becomes increasingly apparent with age. :))))))
Smoking & tanning & being underweight will all radically accelerate the appearance of aging. I quit smoking just over 20 years ago having spent 7 years as a smoker over the prior decade & I’m *so* glad I did. I was still in my twenties when I quit thank god. Always used sunscreen as i just read in some issue of Cosmo how damaging sun was when i was young enough for it to be a common sense thing & not yet an aging thing. And not being underweight, LOL, i look at myself & nothing bugs me except the stuff that always did anyway. Aging is awful if you don’t get ahead of it. There’s a brilliant passage in Liaisons Dangeureuses in which Merteuil advises Valmont that the hardest decade of a woman’s life is between 40-50. She observes, after 50, you’re just glad to be alive but not fighting to stay youthful which ironically gives you a kind of sunset burst before the inevitable twilight. Kate does not look at all well. There are times i feel like… she brought this all onto herself, but, it’s unpleasant to behold. Still. I wonder if she will ever elicit true compassion or just the cheap simpering the rota synthesises.
She has the type of pale dry skin that wrinkles early — I have the same, it goes with red-adjacent brunette hair.
As others have said, tanning and especially smoking are terrible for the skin, particularly when one is prone to wrinkles and sagging anyway.
But a MAJOR factor is that she’s so emaciated. She doesn’t have a single ounce of body fat to pad out that loosening skin.
If she gained twenty pounds or so, she’d be much healthier, and hey, presto! she’d also look fifteen years younger.
Frankly I’m all for living in the body we have and as long as we’re healthy, aging naturally. But walking around like a feminine Skeletor is neither healthy nor aging gracefully.
More numbskull activities. Incredulous that people still want to support these billionaires doing their pretend-working.
IKEA is a nightmare on weekends I would have been so annoyed if they showed up at mine last weekend playing employee.
Also, their pretending to care about anyone but themselves and their own luxurious lifestyle. Six houses and counting now? It’s obscene!
How in the ever-lovin’ hell does taking a photo behind a cash register allow these two perpetual “students of learning” to assist in building actual affordable housing so people can get off the streets? Why aren’t they raising funds for work training centers, so people can learn skills that will allow them a trade? If they visited THOSE places, that’d be a little more meaningful, right? What *exactly* is the actual *purpose* of these short one mini-act “play dates” supposed to do, other than give them a reason to get dressed and out of the house for a pic (which we know they both *dearly* love to do /s).
What do they actually *BRING* to the table, other than to promote themselves?
M&H bring ideas/solutions to try and address issues that *mean*something* to help others. M’s meeting with Malala was to discuss Archewell’s contribution to International Day of the Girl, with ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of profits from the sales of jam and tea sets GOING STRAIGHT TO THE CAUSE. Not just a “smile” and “thanks”. TANGIBLE HELP.
Scoots & The Wig Stick are just a waste of space and time.
🎯 Manning the till isn’t going to help them understand anything about homelessness, or contribute one iota of help to the unhoused.
Basically, it’s a photo-op. Meeting the plebs, how cute!
They need those photo-ops, because H and M are out there doing actual good work. Yes, as you say. compare to As Ever contributing actual funds to International Day of the Girl.
I just bought some tea. I really appreciate how Meghan turned the inevitable tabloid headlines around to garner more support for an important cause. She’s smart, WanK not so much lol.
Yes! I love it that Meghan is clearly putting the press obsession with her to good use.
The headlines! Mystery Tea With Malala! First Meghan Sighting In London! Are They Plotting Something? What Message Is Meghan Sending The Royals By Meeting With A Nobel Prize Winner??
One simple restaurant meal sparked a good few days of attention, which the two women then handily converted into pre-publicity for their charitable fundraiser. The fundraiser got way more attention this way than if they had just sent out a standard press release and posted on social media.
Genius, and of course it’s been the Sussex strategy since before they stepped back from royal work. Remember what they said when they launched their original Sussex Royal website, which directed attention to all sorts of charities?
“If you’re going to look at us, then look at what we’re looking at.” H&M have this work dialed in, far more so than they often get credit for, even from their supporters.
It was good fun to play at working a cash register. They are so out of touch. The two have their tilted head concerned looks
Waity’s multiple head tilts remind me of a cocker spaniel.
Or a bird. Or any other animal with monocular vision (eyes on the sides of its head). That 4th picture down is hilarious with Willy and Kitty both tilting their heads in unison. Usually it’s only Kitty exhibiting the “head tilt” pose to express…something.
I did this kind of thing when I was five, we played ‘store’ at home. 🙄
Kate copying Meghan’s tied back ponytail isn’t working for her. It elongates her face and shows how skull like she has become. She’s a nasty person but I hope someone is helping her.
I almost feel sorry for her – she’s so awkward and out of her depth. I think never having worked has done her no favours – she hasn’t ever built up any resilience, and doesn’t understand how to accomplish her ‘duties’. No wonder she struggles with Meghan – that Heads Together foursome conversation was the start of it – Meghan so confident and eloquent, and then……..poor Kate.
Sorry, NOT sorry ..Kate is hanging on for dear life ,this is exactly what she wanted ..now waiting like a vulture for KC3 to keel over so they can have a sham coronation . Kate playing at being regular people ..but she is a regular person , not royal , not blue blooded , not to the manor born . She had working parents ..lets give the Middletons some credit. They worked their way up and gave their children a privileged life..not landed gentry or upper class though . Kate’s very ordinary beginnings must rankle so she is not play acting at Ikea and Borough market Very much more downstairs than upstairs ..she must be desperate to stay in the running for Queen . Got the tiaras but the crown she needs shimmers tantalizingly on the horizon. At the rate these people are ageing , I dont know how long they are going to stay in one piece . Kate is visibly disintegrating . They both would have had a chance of recovery if they divorced amicably and found more compatible partners. But no ,Kate is in it to win it .
I certainly don’t feel sorry for the bigots who want the Sussex’s dead.
They should have gone to my IKEA One cashier on a holiday Saturday. Over half an hour to get my Swedish meatballs. And the tables were a little over half full, so it wasn’t that busy
Keen needs a good hair trim so badly.
I’ve never lived anywhere near an IKEA so I have no idea what they’re like. There’s a place to eat? I thought they just sold furniture that you had to put together yourself.
Ikeas have a restaurant in them, I don’t know if they’re in every single store though. They are famous for their Swedish meatballs. Through the years, they added other foods. It’s been ages since I’ve been to one, but man, they did all right!
That eyebrow is trying hard to escape again? Will it manage to wiggle off and get free?
Reminds me of the Orange Felon and his “work” at a McDonalds. Buffoonery.
Spot on comparison.
I hate when they do this. It’s so condescending. Working a till for five minutes for a photo op doesn’t make them more relatable.
They have never done a 40 hour work week (well kate hasn’t anyway) and we are supposed to find this play acting at a cashier till cure? Literal children play this game.
(I am assuming William had to work 40 hours when he was in the RAF)
They don’t have to be relatable, just useful. This could have been a fun event if it weren’t so meaningless. “…to see how they could create “the conditions for people to thrive through meaningful connections, a sense of belonging and opportunities to contribute – powerful tools in preventing homelessness”,” is just Early Years gobbledygook. If they had announced some kind of initiative or discussed the collaboration with IKEA to show some substance, then they could have fooled around a bit with the cash registers to lighten things up.
I suppose it could be just crappy reporting, that maybe IKEA did have some sort of initiative going but the rota rats just preferred to write about W&K to assuage their egos & because that’s what the British press has always done–prop up the royals. They’ve forgotten how to report the news, if indeed they ever did. I’m sure they did, once, long ago. Maybe.
There’s just something weird about W&K going to ikea, a well known swedish company, as part of official activities in Northern Ireland.
I believe IKEA is one of the sponsors of Homewards. That’s why they were there.
Good Lord she looks frail. The royal family really isn’t good for anyone.
This is just corny. Remember KP had Kate given out tickets for the Wimbledon queue as well this year. Being a royal means you have no agency. If I was Kate I would have vetoed this gimmick and just do some shopping in the store for charity.
Who comes up with these little pretend working real jobs skits? Do they have a writers room like SNL?
There’s a lab in the Kensington Palace basement where they brainstorm real life experiments in making W&K relateable. Bless their hearts! Doing their best.
Poor Katiekins. Spent most of her youth chasing a prince–a prince!–only to end up having to pretend to be ‘normal’ and ‘relatable’. Tsk tsk.
‘It is understood the couple wanted to meet employers, public services and community organisations to see how they could create “the conditions for people to thrive through meaningful connections, a sense of belonging and opportunities to contribute – powerful tools in preventing homelessness”.‘
— At IKEA?!?
Ikea is not just a furniture company they have a foundation that helps combat global warming (the IKEA Foundation) and another arm called IKEA Social Entrepreneurship (“In everything we do, we have the empowerment of vulnerable and marginalised people, social entrepreneurs and other partners in focus. We lead by what we do, and share our learnings to find solutions and support the activities of social entrepreneurs. This way, we want to contribute to significant and lasting change.”).
I imagine this visit had something to do with the Social Entrepreneurship but why not mention it.
https://www.ikeasocialentrepreneurship.org/
Ah, as I suspected, just basic crappy reporting on the part of the Telegraph. They made it all about W&K, rather than the issue at hand, combating homelessness.
You’re giving them way too much credit. Because why not mention that indeed? This was a photo op nothing more. Do you honestly believe they made the connection? They probably chose it because of how close it is to the airport
Seems to me that their primary reason for visiting IKEA was to be photographed at a place where there was a natural crowd that they could pretend had turned up just to see them. Obvious photo op is obvious. And they practiced their “serious” faces and they still look fake. Cripes.
How condescending.
==> Selling to candies to schoolgirls==>meeting the plebs==>now WanK understand how the rest of us live==this will help the unhoused.
Obviously this is pure photo-op. Otherwise there’s no logic in any of it. Except for the conclusion that Will and Kate are so removed from real people that they think manning the till (as opposed to building IKEA furniture for a halfway house, but they could never figure those flatpacks out, so no) is somehow connected to homelessness.
That would have been such a better idea!
William moved a chair once! Up a flight of stairs, as I recall. 🙄
IKEA should have donated furniture put together by Willnot and Cannot and others, not have them hang around taking pictures! What a waste of time! As usual! OTOh what do they ever contribute besides smiles and handshakes?
I would contribute money to a Will vs Kate “who can build a kallax the best” competition. Maybe IKEA could donate some furniture to the homewards initiatives – they have quite a few social initiatives.
This has very “Versailles/pretend farm/Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette” vibes. “Let’s pretend to work at jobs that others ACTUALLY have to do to put a roof over their heads!” Such fun! /
(And yes, Kate absolutes hates this per her expression. And I will say the wig and Valium closet quote was a much needed chuckle this AM)
These useless idiots have no idea how insulting this is to actual workers.
Meanwhile they decorate their own multiple homes with stolen plunder.
I realize that IKEA has connections to charities and this visit may have been a part of that, but that location is also very close to the Belfast airport. It could have also been just convenience.
Shouldn’t they have helped highlight IKEA’s environmental and social programs. But no, the appearance was all about William and Kate pretending to be regular folks. Frankly, this type of engagement is starting to look a bit juvenile. Perhaps it’s fine if they were in their early twenties, but a couple of middle-aged people it’s just a stunt photo-op. It seems, however, that is all this pair is capable of. Nothing was accomplished and nobody was helped.
I have second hand embarrassment just looking at these photos. I’d want to sink thru the floor if I was Kate, having to perform this little skit. Thank God Meghan escaped from these clueless idiots. She is doing real, meaningful work.
Poor Kitty needs a stylist … desperately. The “school marm” look is hideous on her and drags her face down even more. This woman thought Meghan was going to steal her fashion contacts? I hadn’t laughed so hard since I saw a Cheech & Chong routine.
You know, if they would pay their staff more money they would get a better quality of staff who could actually come up with good ideas. Why on earth do they think these stunts make them look good? They come across as silly try hards. IKEA isn’t even a British brand, it’s Swedish or Dutch. What was the point of this? It appears as mockery.
I don’t recall the late queen ever turning the people she went to visit into props or making herself a spectacle.
The purpose of all of their visits is never anything other than a photo op for their own self-aggrandizement. They never give public comments, take questions, or give interviews about why they are there and what they are there to highlight. Even the rota has complained in the past how they are kept at arm’s distance and can’t even hear them interact with the public, so they end up writing about the photos and Kate’s clothes. The rota has also said they are told or discouraged from asking the people involved in the organizations and photo ops any questions about the specifics, so they truly end up with little to write about.
Boohoo for them. Maybe they should flex their journalism muscles & do some real reporting. Like they learned in J-school (if they went).
All this work has Kate looking rough. How can someone who works maybe 2 days a week die about an hour each of those days look so exhausted. And let’s not forget that she has full time help for everything . No toilets to scrub , no ironing, no laundry to do no vacuuming, no cooking or cleaning. How do you look still look Like this when you literally do f all all day every day?And yes I completely agree with Kaiser . She looks like she is heavily medicated and has zero f to give . It’s like her personality has been put on mute . What a terrible way to live but this is what she wanted so this is what th mean girl gets
I ask myself same question – life of leisure with all the money in the world and you look like this? But I guess this is the problem, zero sense of purpose and constant floating around plus toxic environment will make you depressed and looking like this. On one hand I feel for her, with Carole and the Windsors she has no chance. On the other – she is an adult and wanted this so bad, and fights like hell to stay.
Barrister Keen will ring your order here 🤹🏼
Pretend, useless shenanigans until the real humanitarians leave the country. I am embarrassed for Will and Kate for their transparent idiocy.
She looks absolutely VACANT!
Kate? Make change? Please tell me somebody paid in cash!
One more thing. This: ‘It is understood the couple wanted to meet employers, public services and community organisations to see how they could create “the conditions for people to thrive through meaningful connections, a sense of belonging and opportunities to contribute – powerful tools in preventing homelessness”.’
That says nothing, absolutely nothing. It also doesn’t explain the photo op at IKEA. I just don’t see the connection.
Beaniebean, there is no connection. It’s gobldeegook ( I actually don’t know how to spell it). It’s a word salad that ends in “homelessness.” So, as far as I can make out, the Wanks’ sanctimonious 10 minute trip either has or will end homelessness. IKEA is a Swedish store, so maybe the Wanks are suggesting the homeless go to Sweden to get homes? The Wails add value to nothing. They’re robbing the people blind, not ending homelessness. I’m sure the millions of pounds a year the royals get either causes or contributes to homelessness. So it’s all a sham. You don’t notice them offering any of their eleventy million “forever” homes to house the homeless, do you?
Bwahahaha her wig-and-Valium closet made me chuckle. We all need a safe space!
The great H & M scare seems to be working in one sense at least – W & K have been amping up their appearances? But it looks like Kate hasn’t been sleeping or eating now that her nemesis is back. 😬 ha ha
Her sense of style is just so weird! It ages her even more. She desperately needs a stylist that makes her dress her age, colours that suit her, and without the fussy extra bits, pussy bows and terrible skirt lengths.