I mentioned on Friday that the Princess of Wales had not been seen all week, that she had zero public events since Royal Ascot. I wondered if she was pouting over a number of unpleasant stories in her life, namely the Sussexes’ upcoming UK visit and/or losing her years-long battle to get Prince George to go to a coed school. Kensington Palace did try to make Kate sound slightly busy when they announced that she hosted Melinda French Gates at Windsor Castle last Tuesday. I mean… one private meeting in a week is not great, even if we learned on Sunday that Kate went on a big mountain hike. Still, it looks like Kate also told Prince George to an RAF base so he could look at big planes:
Prince George joined the Princess of Wales on an engagement at a military air base as he prepares for his future as head of the Armed Forces. The future King, who will be 13 next month, visited RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire, where he sat in the cockpits of historic planes.
A video shared by Kensington Palace marking Armed Forces Day shows him inspecting the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, which is based there.
The footage, posted on social media in slow motion with a music soundtrack, shows Prince George and his mother sitting in the cockpits of a Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Typhoon.
Prince George and his siblings, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, have previously visited RAF air bases and watched air shows in their own family time. Their mother has been Royal Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Coningsby since August 2023.
KP’s social media made clear that this visit was to mark Armed Forces Day in the UK, which was Saturday, June 27th. I believe that Kate and George probably visited this RAF base days (if not weeks) beforehand. Does anyone else think it’s interesting that this was yet another moment to mark the military or veterans and Prince William did nothing? No events, no “happy Armed Forces Day -W,” no social media post of all of William’s shiny participation-medals, nothing. Skipped VJ Day, skipped the Festival of Remembrance, skipped ANZAC Day. It’s weird.
Honouring Service and Sacrifice
Marking Armed Forces Day by reflecting on time spent with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Coningsby. Learning about the extraordinary history of these aircraft and meeting the pilots and engineers who keep their legacy alive. A… pic.twitter.com/gXhRDcBj8A
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) June 27, 2026
Photos courtesy of Instagram, additional photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Trooping the Colour 2026 ceremony in celebration of King Charles III’s official birthday Featuring: Prince George Where: London, United Kingdom When: 13 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images
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- Royals attend day two of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Catherine, Princess Of Wales Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- Royals attend day two of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
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- Royals attend day two of Royal Ascot 2026 at Ascot Racecourse Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, William, Prince of Wales Where: Ascot, United Kingdom When: 17 Jun 2026 Credit: Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR HELLO MAGAZINE**
There was footage of the royal helicopter showing up at the base on June 10.
Either way it was weird for the next commander in chief of the UK Armed Forces to not be involved.
Yep. I heard the visit took place around a fortnight before the pics were posted.
I hate the way they frame their videos. Instead of putting the focus on the organization, it always centers the royal (and even then, poorly?). Assuming the point of the video is actually awareness or promotion. If the point is “look at me, I’m doing such cool things” or “I’m so serious” then… mission accomplished.
Really encapsulates their whole ethos. Look at me, everyone else are bit players other than throw away mentions. Also, there’s a minimum of two videographers there for this. Seems excessive.
The videos are blessedly short, though.
They look nice and normal. Somehow, I’m getting Good King George vibes – like everyone knows William is a lost cause, so let’s move on.
Well if that’s true, we may not see much of him for a while! We’ll hear, the press should leave him alone during his school years, etc. (Not completely kidding.) I definitely think that’s in store for Charlotte in a few years, when she starts pulling attention from Kate. The jealousy is real with these folks. Anyway, George looks good here. More mature than he appeared riding in the carriage at Trooping. Looks like a 13 year old. I hope unlike his parents he has passions and interests that his school experiences encourage him to follow, so he can build a more fulfilling life regardless of his future responsibilities. At this rate, who knows what the monarchy will be like when it’s his turn.
Windy. .. the trooping photos are the real photo’s. These have been airbrushed. I would have such low self esteem if most of my photos got edited
@eurydice That’s exactly what everyone used to say about William when he was a teenager, so many people wanted him to be King after the queen instead of Charles
Sure, people wanted a monarch who at least appeared to have a moral compass. And now, they’d probably prefer a king who isn’t a lazy, greedy, rage monster (if they want a king at all).
Kate’s gurning is painful to watch in the opening shot of that KP video …
And isn’t Willy the pilot in the family? Why wasn’t he showing the planes to his son?
George will probably doing more appearances since his parents are lazy.
I mean I think she did next to nothing last week bc she’s conserving her energy to be out every day while the Sussexes are visiting, if it happens. And why William didn’t talk anything military-related? I could tell you. He was working on ES his own thing and hanging with celebs last week so the military presumably wasn’t a priority. Or he’s gearing up to do military events while Harry is doing IG games events idk?
Her usual exaggerated facial expressions and feigned interest!
She’s always gurning!
WHO does their videos for socials???
My goodness they are bad! Bad clips bad editing bad music bad POV bad framing bad storytelling.
My 11 yo has a viral channel on TT that features a girl group she loves and she uses CapCut exclusively as her editing software. Some vids get 4000 views and some 400k. Regardless her first videos ever are far better than this sad “professional” one.
To be fair she does receive job offers in her DMs but come on Kensington Palace what kind of silly salaried person is doing this level of production for you?
You are being outgunned by my child.
I know you read here soooo let’s see if you make a change!
Hahahahhahahaa lolz forever
Wow – he shot up quite fast! She’s what, 5’9″? Looks like he outgrew that jacket from last month…
I was just thinking how tall he is! She’s wearing flats for once, I think he didn’t look as tall on the balcony because she was wearing her high heels.
My nephew is the same age with similarly sized parents (my brother is 6’4”, sil is 5’8”), and when I saw him in February he was 5’5” (my height). I see him this weekend and expect him to be taller than me.
@Jerseygirl….not really he has always been a tall child. It has been said that he is very easy to identify at school because he is head and shoulders above his classmates.
Same ! They are all tall in that family!
Philip (6 ft) brought some height into the family and the Diana (5’10”)added to it. Kate is 5’9”. Even Meghan is medium height, 5’6” (I thought she was shorter but Harry’s just that tall). All Charles’s grandkids should be a pretty decent height.
George is looking like a younger brother to Charles Spencer today. He looks happy which is more important than anything else.
I try to minimize how much (if at all) I comment on children’s bodies online (kids grow at different speeds, both upward & outward), but gosh he’s really hit a growth spurt! It looks like Kate’s shoes don’t have much of a heel so he probably isn’t taller than Kate yet, but definitely getting there. I grew something like 4 inches in 6 months when I was in my tweens, many of my cousins even more than that.
I suspect William didn’t have a good experience in the army unlike his brother.
Kate’s granddad Captain Peter Middleton was an RAF fighter pilot during the Second World War. She probably cares more than William.
Keen gets suddenly “busy” when Meghan is due to arrive next month. And she brought the future king! A double whammy. Kate is winning!!! (her one-sided battle with Meghan).
Kate will be made a saint by the end of this week .
Been a new book released about her and honestly she really is the best future queen ever , pure ?kind , intelligent the absolute perfect princess ever ,
They sure have worked hard on destroying the Sussexes visit .