Kate Middleton and Prince William visit the Isle of Mull to celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary

Daily Mail​

29-04-2025

The Prince and Princess of Wales looked overjoyed to be back in Scotland as they celebrated their 14th wedding anniversary with a public visit to the picturesque Isle of Mull.
The Lord and Lady of the Isles - as they are known in the region, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay - arrived in Tobermory this afternoon to begin a two-day visit to the Inner Hebrides wearing matching tweed jackets.
Kate, 43, was glowing as she stepped out in a smart blazer from Holland Cooper and jeans as she arrived in the iconic 18th Century fishing port with its brightly-coloured houses, and made famous by the hit children's show Balamory.
Her brunette locks appeared to glisten in the sunlight - on a rare day of warm weather on the Scottish island.
Meanwhile, her husband Prince William, 42, opted to match with his wife in a checked grey blazer, looking relaxed and cheerful as he looks forward to spending some quality time together.
There was a warm public welcome as Kate and William waved to crowds - with locals and tourists thronging the streets ready to catch a glimpse several hours before they were due to arrive.
The couple, who walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey on April 29 2011, do not normally celebrate personal anniversaries in public but when the trip came up, sources say, thought 'why not?'
It's set to be a romantic getaway, with William and Kate renting an isolated self-catering cottage for two during the visit.
Aides say they have a 'deep love' for Scotland having met and fallen in love at St Andrew's University and are delighted to be back on Mull, where as revealed by the Mail today they enjoyed a secret holiday together as student and even took part in a water bomb fight with locals.
The aim of their visit, which will also take in neighbouring Iona tomorrow, will be on the power of community and social connection.
Their first stop will be Aros Hall, a local community hub in the heart of the town, which is being renovated thanks to a partnership with their Royal Foundation.
There, they will tour an artisan market and meet some of the island's makers and creators, while sampling some of their products. This serves as a vital lifeline for locals given the lack of other shops on the island.
The hall is run by the community, with regular activities including a weekly producers' market, sewing club, lunch club and toddlers' group.
To coincide with their visit, Kate and William's Royal Foundation has announced a new partnership to support and develop two community spaces across Mull to ensure residents can continue to come together for activities.
Their Royal Highnesses will be hosted by Morven Summers, Chair of the Aros Hall Committee, see the spaces being renovated, meet social influencer and local resident Banjo Beale, an interior designer who has teamed up with the Royal Foundation to deliver the works.
William and Catherine are expected to get stuck and help, as well as meeting volunteers who keep the space going.
Later they will travel to Croft 3, a local croft and restaurant on the western side of the island, run by Jeanette Lynn who focuses on sustainable production, relying as much as possible on serving food which has been grown or farmed on site, or which is provided by local producers.
Jeanette will show Their Royal Highnesses the croft, including seeing some of her herd of native Hebridean sheep, and invite them to help prepare some of the food for that afternoon's menu including some outdoor cooking amid the stunning scenery.
Their visit will culminate in a feast for the community to highlight the importance of coming together to support one another.
Tonight William and Catherine will stay on the island in a remote self-catering Croft themselves to celebrate their anniversary - and highlight the importance of tourism to the region.
Today it can be announced that the couple's charitable Royal Foundation is providing two grants to Aros Hall and Pennyghael Community Hall on the island.
The money will help enable the re-design and renovation of the halls which will allow more islanders to come together.
It includes a new 'Rainydays' play area and soft play zone in Tobermory and roof repairs at Pennyghael on the south of the island.
The couple have also loaned the help and expertise of their Business Foundation to help open a community cafe on the island.
Melanie Waters OBE, Executive Director of Programmes, The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales said: 'It is a privilege to work closely with inspiring members of the community on Mull as they grow and develop spaces at the heart of their communities.
'Volunteers in both the north and south of the island have led incredible efforts to ensure communities have warm and inviting places to meet, access valuable services and form friendships.
'We are excited to work in partnership to bring wonderful activities that best showcase the culture, spirit and resilience of rural island communities.
Morven Summers, Chair of the Aros Hall committee added: 'We are so grateful to be working in partnership with The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales and other partners to help deliver our vision for Aros Hall.
'This investment will enable the hall to provide welcoming and warm spaces which strengthen our community.
'We are especially excited about launching the new 'Rainydays' soft play area, providing much-needed opportunities for parents with young children to come together and connect.
'Aros Hall has been serving the Tobermory community for over 100 years, and with this support we can ensure its doors remain open for many more.'
Banjo Beale, interior designer and Mull resident commented: 'It's an absolute joy to be working with The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales to redesign and preserve these vital community spaces.
'Together, we're not just restoring old walls - we're reimagining what's possible when community and creativity come together. I'm excited to breathe new life into beloved buildings and celebrate the island's warmth, resilience, and quiet magic.'
The couple are both more at home in the countryside than anywhere else, making it the perfect way, say sources, for them to also celebrate their first wedding anniversary since Catherine revealed she was in remission from cancer.
The couple have endured what William last autumn described as a 'brutal' year, making their time away even more precious.
A royal source explained that the tourism industry contributes 'significantly to the economy of the Isles', which see hundreds of thousands of people visit every year, adding that the Prince and Princess are looking forward to 'showing their support for the islands with their stay'.
The source said: 'For The Duke and Duchess, this visit is all about the power of communities, and highlighting that by building stronger and better-connected communities we can perhaps build a steady path to more loving and compassionate society.
'What we will see on their visit to the Inner Hebrides is that we can learn powerful lessons from ways of life on Mull and Iona, specifically about how we reconnect with each other.
'The simpler way of life that these island communities enjoy, steeped in nature and built on strong person to person connections, offers a powerful model for transforming our own health and wellbeing, and in turn the communities within which we live.'
The trip is a rare joint public outing for the couple, who have three children - George, 11, Charlotte, 9, and Louis, 7 - since Kate underwent preventative chemotherapy for cancer, for which she is now in remission.
'Scotland is incredibly important to me and will always have a special place in my heart,' William, who as heir holds the title Lord of the Isles, said back in 2021.
'George, Charlotte and Louis already know how dear Scotland is to both of us... We have no doubt they will grow up sharing our love and connection to Scotland.'
The focus of their trip is to highlight rural island communities and the stunning natural environment in which they live.
Mull and Iona are breathtakingly beautiful places - home to dramatic mountains, ancient forests, and stunning beaches, as well as an abundance of wildlife, lochs and waterfalls.
Mull is known as the one of the 'larders of the UK' with its plethora of family-run independent businesses selling produce that has been fished, farmed or produced on the islands.
Iona, its tiny neighbour, is popular with visitors thanks to the unique place it holds in the history of Scotland. Both have thriving tourism industries in the summer who come for the breathtaking landscapes and coastlines.
On Wednesday, the couple are set to visit the Ardura Community Forest, where they will meet countryside rangers from the Mull and Iona ranger service.
The Duke and Duchess will join a local school group as they take part in outdoor learning at the ancient forest, which is home to a rich and diverse array of birds, mammals and plants.
Part of the Atlantic rainforest and one of Scotland's most precious habitats, the forest is now under community ownership and work is underway to protect and restore the forest and it's rare and vulnerable wildlife.
The Duke and Duchess will join Ardura Acorns, one of the only early-years outdoor learning play groups on the island.
It undertakes seasonal, outdoor play and learning with 0-5-year-olds and their carers, with activities focusing on nature and wildlife, such as following nature trails, den building, animal tracking and storytelling.
To coincide with Their Royal Highnesses' visit, The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales will be announcing support for the Mull and Iona Ranger Service to ensure their important work conserving and championing nature can continue.
The Prince has a further connection with the Isle of Mull because it is part of lands once ruled by the Lord of the Isles, one of a number of Scottish titles he inherited from his father when Charles became King.
When in Scotland, William and Kate are officially known by their Scottish titles, the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.
The life partners of more than 20 years became friends first at university where Kate was working towards an art history degree, while William, who initially enrolled for history of art, had switched to geography, before embarking on a romance.
It is said that Kate caught the attention of the young prince at a charity fashion show in the Spring of their first year at university.
A 20-year-old Kate confidently strutted in front of her peers wearing a revealing sheer dress with a black bra and underwear for a fashion show titled 'The Art of Seduction'. (It had actually been a see-through skirt or minidress worn as a top)
Prince William, who paid £200 for a table close to the catwalk, is said to have been open-mouthed. The lace slip itself later sold for £78,000.
They then moved in to an apartment with friends during their second year of studies 'as friends' but 'it just sort of blossomed from there really,' the Prince later said in the couple's official engagement interview.
Despite a short hiatus in 2007, William proposed in 2010 in a cabin hut roughly 11,000 feet above sea level on the side of Mount Kenya in Africa after getting back together.
Before long, they were wed in a grand fairy-tale ceremony in Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, with the aisle of the Gothic London church lined with trees.
The bride wore a stunning Alexander McQueen gown designed by Sarah Burton and the Queen borrowed her the Cartier Scroll Tiara for the big day.
Prince Harry served as his brother's best man, with both the Duke of Sussex and William dressing in traditional military uniforms.
The affair, attended by a crowd of 1,900 including royals, celebrities and politicians from across the globe, was hailed the wedding of the century at the time.
Following the ceremony, the newlyweds stood on the Buckingham Palace balcony to exchange not one, but two kisses and the celebratory crowds went wild.
Upon their marriage, the Queen granted the couple the titles the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, which they would later trade in for the Prince and Princess of Wales.
It is likely that this anniversary will be all the more special after William admitted 2024 was 'the hardest year of my life' after Kate's cancer diagnosis, as well as his father's.
In September, the Princess revealed she finished her course of 'preventative chemotherapy' and shared it reminded her and her husband to 'reflect and be grateful for the simple yet important things in life, which so many of us often take for granted. Of simply loving and being loved.'
The princess' personal message to the nation is accompanied by a stunning three-minute long video showing her and William in Norfolk with their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, shot last summer.
It shows the family playing happily on the beach and in the woods, William and Catherine laying entwined on a blanket, hugging their children – and kissing.
Some six months earlier, Kate released another emotional video where she revealed that she was undergoing treatment for cancer but also gave an insight to her relationship with her husband.
She said the diagnosis came as a 'huge shock' to both her and William, adding that they were doing 'all they can' to process it both as a couple but also as a 'young family.'
'It has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them and reassure them that I'm going to be okay,' Kate said.
'Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance, as is the love, support and kindness that has been shown by so many of you - it means so much to us both.'
It's not the couple's first visit to the island - and it will likely bring back many memories, the Mail can reveal.
They first stayed on the island in the Inner Hebrides in 2005 following their final exams at St Andrew's University, where they first met and fell in love.
Along with a group of friends they rented Victoria Cottage on Breadalbane Street in Tobermory, famous as the brightly-coloured town of Balamory in the children's television series featuring Josie Jump and PC Plum.
William, 22, Kate, 23, and their group enjoyed a four-day, self-catering stay at their holiday let overlooking the harbour before they returned to university for their gradation that June.
William was spotted on the ferry over from Oban, on the Scottish mainland, with passengers apparently staring in disbelief. One passenger said he was 'very chatty' on the boat and made no effort to hide his identity.
He was with a young woman who they didn't think was his girlfriend, but the Mail has established that Kate did accompany him too.
'They visited privately during their time at university,' a royal source confirmed this week.
Arriving on Mull the group dropped their bags off at their cottage before popping down to the local Co-op for provisions.
'He was very handsome and very polite,' one member of staff said of the heir to the throne.
The future king was also seen in the local pub watching the British Lions in New Zealand and then went back to the shop with friends to buy a picnic lunch before heading out into the hills walking.
'He was minding his own business and so did everyone else. His family have a lot of connections on the west coast of Scotland and that is probably why he has decided to holiday here,' said a shop worker.
Discussing their visit this week, a source told the Mail yesterday: 'William and Kate were here previously. They were open to the public, just a normal couple enjoying a break away.
'They had fun with the local neighbours with a water bomb match and had a BBQ with them too.
'They were just very normal people, without any royal airs and graces. It was really nice to see.'
Another said: 'There was a whole gang on them just having a break, all very chilled. There was no fuss or fanfare and because William acted so low-key and normal, all the people around here did too.'
They added: 'The funny thing was that Princess Anne was also visiting the island at the same time and they both ended up in the Co-op together.
'What at the chances of having two members of the Royal Family here at the same time - and in the same shop?
'Anne comes here a lot when she stops off on her boat, but it was very funny to see them both queuing together - William was standing behind her.
'It just goes to show that if people as famous as the Royal Family don't make a fuss, then no-one else does too. You would barely see the security with them. It was all very low-key.'