One of the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay’s big Scottish events on Tuesday was a visit to the National Curling Academy in Stirling. They were allegedly there to highlight Team GB’s Curling teams ahead of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, which start February 6th. What William and Kate were really doing was stunt-queening. They arranged for a little skit on ice, where they would both try their hand at curling. The crisis manager probably told them that the photos would be enough to make people forget about Prince Harry!
As you can see, Kate at least understands how to create an action pic. She was laughing hysterically, as if the kettle was the funniest thing she’d ever seen. Meanwhile, William just looked awkward. I mean, neither of them was really dressed for curling? Don’t curlers need special shoes? Curling is sort of a gateway drug for the Winter Olympics – people love to watch it and think “well, I could do that.”
I’ll say something nice, begrudgingly: before today, I had no idea that the Scots invented curling. Apparently, Scottish peeps used to slide kettles around frozen lochs??? In the 16th century? And Team GB has won many medals in curling. Kind of wish that William and Kate had done more to highlight the actual British curling team.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Britain’s William, Prince of Wales and Kate, Princess of Wales react as they meet with the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams ahead of the Winter Olympic Games at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067661620, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales speaks to a child while visiting the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067661652, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales reacts during her visit at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067661703, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s William, Prince of Wales takes part in curling as they meet with the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams ahead of the Winter Olympic Games at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067661729, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s William, Prince of Wales takes part in curling as they meet with the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams ahead of the Winter Olympic Games at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067661748, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s William, Prince of Wales takes part in curling as he meets with the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams ahead of the Winter Olympic Games at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067661775, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales takes part in curling during her meet with the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams ahead of the Winter Olympic Games at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067668428, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales reacts while participating in curling as she meets with the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams ahead of the Winter Olympic Games at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067668439, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales reacts while participating in curling as she meets with the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams ahead of the Winter Olympic Games at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067668451, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- Britain’s Kate, Princess of Wales reacts next to Scottish curler Jen Dodds while participating in curling as she meets with the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams ahead of the Winter Olympic Games at the National Curling Academy in Stirling, Scotland, Britain, January 20, 2026.,Image: 1067668464, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Russell Cheyne/Avalon
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- The Prince and the Princess of Wales, known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay when in Scotland, speak with members of the public following a visit to the National Curling Academy in Stirling as part of their visit to Stirling and Falkirk. Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William Where: Stirling, United Kingdom When: 20 Jan 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I live in northern Canada, and my kid curls. Yes you need special shoes but not like they were really leaving the hack. Curling is such a fun sport for any age and any athletic capability. My 12 year old has been curling for six years and the most fun fact is that pee-wee curling ages 6-10 is called “Little Rocks.”
We used to have curling in our back yard rink as kids, much safer than the lawn darts we used to use in the summers lol. I grew up in the states but in an area that the antenna only got cbc and curling was always fun to watch.
I need to know about your back yard rink. Sounds fabulous! I live in a warm climate — many questions.
The backyard rink was a flooded oval that was framed out in wood and groomed with blade like shovels. It was all made by my father and a few friends. Winter is the main season there so it was easy to keep frozen.
My dad used to make a backyard link in our Detroit suburb by laying down plastic and then going out every night for a week in extremely cold weather and spraying one thin layer after another until the ice was thick enough for us kids to skate on. My dad never ever skated, but he really enjoyed this winter project.
Most people outside of the Detroit area do not know that in the 50s, when almost every other place in the country got three channels, ABC,CBS, and NBC, we in Detroit were just across the river from Windsor, Canada, so we got CBC which was a bonus! Sunday was always hockey, wrestling, and curling, along with old WWII movies, so many of us in the Detroit area grew up watching a lot of curling and hockey.
Curling is basically everywhere in Canada because even in rural locations there tends to be a curling rink.
And no it’s not hard for beginners to do it. That said we all know you don’t do it in a skirt, which is why Kate was sitting way higher than William when she made the throw.
I believe they’re using step-on sliders. People just trying out curling and newer curlers who aren’t ready to buy curling shoes yet use them. It’s a shoe-print-shaped flat thing that’s a slider (typically white) on one side and rubberized (typically black) on the other so that it will keep contact with your own footwear. You just need to wear flat (clean) shoes. You can see it most clearly in the second shot of Kate below the post text. For William, the telltale sign of it is that on his trailing foot, you only see the white of his shoe sole, but on his sliding foot, there’s a black edge you can see below the white sides of the sole of his shoe.
I am just here to say I love curling. I love playing it. I love watching it. I love how both playing and watching pairs with beer. You should all get into it.
Also, Team Canada is going to eat team GB for breakfast.
On the Women’s side, Canada is represented by Team Homan, reigning World Champion and World Curling Rankings points leader, to GB’s WCR #19 Team Morisson. But on the Men’s side, GB is represented by Scotland’s Team Mouat, also reigning World Champion and World Curling Rankings points leader, while Canada is represented by WCR #4 Team Jacobs.
Fun fact: one of Team Homan’s sponsors is nail polish brand Holo Taco, and at a grand slam event in Toronto last summer, Holo Taco founder Cristine Rotenberg painted a couple of Bruce Mouat’s nails.
This is the thing — sometimes you’re asked to do something that you know is out of your wheelhouse, borderline awkward, but you want to be a good sport, so you do it, but you do it laughing out loud, at how ridiculous you feel doing it. The point is, you can’t do it with a straight face. This happens a lot if you have young children who issue demands like, “DO THE PONY SO I CAN RIDE YOU, MUMMY.” It’s a way to wince without looking put-out. But this is how these people look…. Allllllllll the time. Which would suggest that they feel the stunts they are asked to engage in are beneath them. Which begs the question, why keep doing them???
That’s a really good analogy and you’re right, this is how they look all the time, like they’re constantly being asked to do ridiculous things or things that they know will look silly or awkward even if its just….pressing a button to christen a ship.
I think your description ” It’s a way to wince without looking put-out” is right on the money.
Kate acting all stupid about curling is actually insulting. It’s not that hard even for children to do and so all these grimaces and faces makes her look medicated.
It is an Olympic sport, and the athletic part including knowing how to angle the rocks to either place them in the scoring position or how to bounce out the rocks from the other team.
The Noking Charlie has a video clip of Kate while she’s performing and frankly she looks like a buffoon.
She did that weird condescending shit when she was doing archery in Bhutan and frankly it’s tiresome.
I’m not going to criticize William for acting like a mentally balanced person while throwing his rock and not thinking you need to do a Robin Williams impersonation to do sports you aren’t very familiar with.
The weird thing is they both changed shoes – Kate was wearing different black boots and William was wearing his typical brown suede shoes (although I like these sneakers better on him anyway.) If they were going to change, why not change into actual curling shoes like you can see the others wearing?
I can’t get a good view of the rest of Kate’s outfit but I don’t have high hopes for it since it seems she’s wearing a sweater vest of sorts. and yes in general this is the kind of event she loves where she can grin widely and it doesn’t look as weird as it does when she’s talking to cancer survivors or something.
But at the same time, this is the kind of event they always sort of get wrong because they center themselves, not the people they’re supposed to be highlighting. This is all about William and Kate trying curling – no one cares about why they’re there or who they’re visiting or anything. Its just about these photos. I would say its the fault of the press and media but at this point I’m not so sure, I think its just W&K.
ITA about centering themselves. It’s supposed to be charming that the FK and FQ would get their hands dirty with everyday things like making cake, digging dirt or playing a sport. But 1) that is all they do to get attention and it gets tired 2) they have positioned themselves as average Bill and Kathy of the bycicle monarchy, so why do they want us to think this is special?
Kate also made sure to dress inappropriately in a skirt which would impede her ability to properly crouch down to make the throw. Either she wasn’t prepped or she was and didn’t care.
But acting like a buffoon in your mid 40s looks dumb. She doesn’t have Harry’s charisma and even he would not be acting like a clown just for attention.
This video showed up on my fb feed for some reason last night. She laughed so hard because she did the whole wind up and then didn’t let go of the…. Stone? She was holding two things, one to stabilize and one to let go of, ended up just kind of getting dragged on the ice from momentum. She had some weird mouth movements in the middle of all the laughing. William was standing back, barely reacting and holding her coat.
The whole event was off a little, and like a 5 second clip. I can see why they stick to very short clips of her. If there was a minute solid of her interacting, you’d catch multiple off things that add up to something.
Both of them look pretty awkward to me, but curling is not easy in formal wear, especially skirts. Ironically, this would have been a good time for Kate to dust off some fleece-lined leggings!
I will begrudgingly say that I think the strategy of stretching one afternoon’s worth of events seems to be working. If you didn’t know better, you’d probably assume that they were in Scotland all week.
She wore a skirt and not leggings although she knew she was going to “practice ” curling because they try to hide her skeletal frame.
Yes! If ever there was a time for her jeggings! Curling in a long skirt had me laughing but she did alright considering. And her long hair was getting close to touching that ice.
It is all about them.and what keen wears. They both need to step up work numbers.
Wasn’t Kate at one point very athletic? It seems like something she really could have championed, getting people of all ages enthusiastic about physical activity.
That was my first thought looking at these pictures, I wish sporty Kate had been chosen instead of arly yars as her focus/theme (if they need one which is a separate debate).
Michelle Obama made this her cause, and not that there’s any comparison between them *at all* but it’s a completely respectable issue to champion and something that seems much more natural to Kate than understanding childhood brain development.
Honestly curling is such an absurdly wonderful sport that I totally get it, I’d be the same.
So I understand laughing when doing it 🙂
There’s laughter and then there’s awkward raging hysteria.
She is not well.
Yeah the video shows how exaggerated her reactions are. It’s bizarre when you see it.
I did not know the Scots invented curling. So, curling and golf, eh? Do they just not like to work up a sweat when playing sports?
That face of hers, it’s like Shecky Green’s in the room.
Between Harry’ London stay and the Beckham drama, I doubt anyone cares about this. And maybe in this narrow case they don’t mind because everyone including the media was on their case about them running away from Harry.
They look like they’re having fun.
Agree. Kate looks like she is genuinely enjoying herself, and William, too. These two definitely enjoy activity.
“Curling is sort of a gateway drug for the Winter Olympics – people love to watch it ”
Woke up one morning at 3:00 am and turned on the TV. An Olympic curling event was on so I watched it. I have been addicted to watching curling ever since!
“British curling team”
With regards to the Olympics, Is there a British curling team or is there a Scottish & English curling team?
The curling team has to represent the country for the Olympics but what normally happens is that it is the team that wins the nationals that represents the country. Scotland also won the world championships in 2025 and so I believe that the UK team is in fact the Scotland team this year.
Canada does well in curling too and each province has one (sometimes two) teams all compete for the chance to represent Canada at the Olympics at the nationals. They then become team Canada for that year of international tournaments.
I am genuinely excited for the winter Olympics. I geek out on all of it. Currently doing physical therapy to walk again so I’m gonna be living vicariously through those athletes.
It’s a U.K. team (Scotland, Wales, N Ireland, England): but in reality the majority or even all the players on the U.K. team tend to be Scots.
What a missed opportunity to look competent. Kate’s pretty athletic and while curling can be dangerous (kids learning have to wear helmets now) learning to slide is so fun. Why not try in proper curling shoes? Team Mouat are amazingly talented and it’s a shame their time was wasted with K and W who weren’t prepared to actually try something hard.
She looks more and more manic at these unfortunate outings.
I think she’s on drugs.
Also influenced by how much fun her sister in law had at the Invictus Games… the tubing?
I’m going to guess that they were told to walk with shoes because they changed their shoes when they had to go on the ice.
I’ve watched curling matches many times and the white things they’re using are new to me. I’m assuming they are used for beginners learning the sport? Like training wheels on a bike so they don’t fall over?
I’ve played curling and never used those white things. I suppose it helps with balance, but it’s really not that needed after playing a bit.
I have to say that when I had anorexia as a teen, I dressed the way Kate is dressed here — in layers of wool — because I was cold all of the time.
Yeah, her clothes look like they weigh more than her.
I think she was wearing specific textiles to support the textile industry which has been part of her thing lately. I’m not mad at it even if I think it looks antiquated and something from a period piece. And you know not the most practical for curling.
Should they not have been prepared to try curling and dressed appropriately? Curling may appear simple to the uninitiated, but it is game of skill and strategy, and it takes great skill to make a rock travel at the speed and to take the path that you want it to in order to stop at the spot you want it to, on a sheet of ice.
She looks manic.
I saw Kate´s video, and it was… weird, her laugh was weird and loud, Meghan would make intelligent conversations with the people and very nice pictures, Kate however, always looks really weird in pictures and videos. Has no one have told her to calm a little bit?
Harry would have been serious about it. Remember wheelchair basketball? He would have been in concentration mode, asking questions, listening, trying again. He would have given the impression it’s a serious (and fun) sport after watching, because it’s likely what he would have thought prior and even more so after. He never demeans when he learns about other people’s passions.
W&K turn everything into a joke.
Harry always takes his sporting events seriously, I am thinking of seated volleyball and wheelchair skiing, most recently. He has clear respect for the athletes, always. Kate looks like her jaw is about to unhinge with her hyena cackle. She could not be less serious if she tried, and I feel sorry for everyone who has to act like they are remotely comfortable in her presence. I can’t even stand to look at photos of her events anymore. She’s a caricature, not a person.
I’m sorry to say that for that top picture she looks like she just needs a large black cauldron in front of her and she could be one of Macbeth’s witches…
They weren’t there to highlight anyone except themselves, as they always do. They were there to get photos of themselves to use now and later to highlight themselves. Nothing they ever do is for the betterment of others.
So, she is fully recovered now?