Non-drinker Princess Kate sipped a Guinness to be polite with the Irish Guards

The Princess of Wales’s appearance with the Irish Guards was pretty quiet this year, right? In years past, there’s always been tons of drama around Kate’s St. Patrick’s Day appearance, drama like “will she bother to show up” and “will she just wear the same green coat.” There was zero advance drama, Kate just turned up as she was supposed to and did exactly what was required of her. Which is what she was supposed to do this whole time, but obviously, Kate doesn’t want people to expect her to do this every single year. The only real drama came when Kate was supposed to sip a Guinness alongside the Irish Guards. Guess what? Kate did it, despite rarely drinking these days.

Kate Middleton raised a glass for a St. Patrick’s Day tradition after revealing the lifestyle change she made around alcohol.

On March 17, the Princess of Wales, 44, attended the Irish Guards’ St. Patrick’s Day parade at Mons Barracks in her royal role as honorary Colonel of the regiment and celebrated with the soldiers and their families at the Sergeant’s Mess. In previous years, she’s even quietly put money behind the bar for the holiday party.

As seen in footage shared to X, Princess Kate smiled when the Irish Guards cried three cheers of “Hip, hip, hooray” in her honor and took a small sip of the Guinness in her hand, raising a glass with the group.

Princess Kate traditionally takes part in the toast for the holiday, although she’s celebrated with water instead of beer in years when she was pregnant!

The Princess of Wales took the tiny taste after revealing just last week that she has scaled back her alcohol consumption after being diagnosed with cancer in 2024. Princess Kate revealed the detail while visiting Southwark Brewing Company in London with Prince William on March 12, as she and her husband tried their hand at pouring pints.

“Since my diagnosis, I haven’t had much alcohol. It’s something I have to be a lot more conscious of now,” royal editor Matt Wilkinson of The Sun wrote on X about what Kate said there.

“But you like cider,” she told William, referring to his go-to drink.

[From People]

I’m including the video below – it looks like she genuinely took a small sip to be polite (she was the one being toasted, after all) and then she probably didn’t touch the beer again. If only her husband knew how to sip a drink or pretend to sip a drink out of politeness. Anyway, you know how we always say that William looks so much more relaxed when Kate isn’t around? The same is true of Kate – she’s much more professional and relaxed when she’s not around William. She’s not trying to create cutesy love-gaze photos or gawping in the middle of a photo-op for no reason. Kate and William are such weirdos.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, Richard Pohle/Avalon.

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9 Responses to “Non-drinker Princess Kate sipped a Guinness to be polite with the Irish Guards”

  1. Me at home says:
    March 19, 2026 at 9:36 am

    LOL. Maybe it was alcohol-free Guiness (Guiness 0.00), or maybe her handlers gave her a stern warning after the brewery debacle last week. Or maybe she really did just want to get back at Willy for the coffee debacle, because they do seem to hate each other.

    Reply
  2. K says:
    March 19, 2026 at 9:48 am

    If Kate is on Anti Dresspressants or Aniexty meds , she might not be able to.drink on those ?

    You know l still think that there was a separation.announcement due January 2025 when Kate pulled de sickness card.they decided to.stay together for wharever reason but my God William looks so.so unhappy and Kate well she is delighted that she can hold onto that crown, for now anyway.

    Reply
    • mblates says:
      March 19, 2026 at 10:14 am

      i’ve wondered if it’s blood thinners? i had a blood clot get loose in my intestines a few years ago and it wreaked havoc. i had to have a third of my intestinal system removed. i had an undiagnosed clotting disorder. some of the stuff released when she was ill (the abdominal stuff) felt familiar to me. and it’s been 10 years and i still have tons of issues with my GI system that are hard to predict.

      Reply
  3. Amy Bee says:
    March 19, 2026 at 10:00 am

    Kate’s showing William how it’s done.

    Reply
  4. Becks1 says:
    March 19, 2026 at 11:14 am

    she said she hasn’t had much alcohol, not that she stopped drinking entirely. So a small sip here doesn’t surprise me. She could have taken a sip last week as well but I think she wanted to get in the dig about William drinking.

    I’ve had a few friends who have gone through chemo and they have all drank alcohol after their treatment ended (I know one would drink during her treatment but she timed it carefully during her treatment cycles and it was usually only once a cycle, she would have a glass or two of wine or a few beers out with friends.) So I’m not sure why going through chemo two years ago means she can’t drink now? (I mean not drinking is healthier in general for you, lol.) It would make sense though if there were other GI issues going on (for example I have a friend with pretty bad IBS who rarely drinks because it makes it worse) or if she was on some medications where she couldn’t drink.

    Anyway “yay” for Kate, for doing an event and working and not making it into some sort of huge drama about her appearance. She just showed up, pinned some shamrocks, sipped some Guiness and left.

    Reply
  5. Elly says:
    March 19, 2026 at 11:17 am

    I commented on Kate’s cancer here (under a diff headline)before and it was deleted. I’m not sure why? I think Kate may have had a cancerous polyp that was early stage. It ties in with the weight loss and not being able to drink alcohol. Also with her being embarrassed to say what kind of cancer she had. More relatively young people are getting colon cancer these days. Even fit people. Colon cancer is very treatable in early stages. She may have been having symptoms (like diarrhea) so they scoped her. It does seem like she would be able to put some weight back on now since she said she is in remission. Anyway, it’s really just an educated guess on my part.

    Reply
  6. Hypocrisy says:
    March 19, 2026 at 11:19 am

    Did Waity find AA?

    Reply

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