Princess Kate dazzles in sailor blue as she launches Royal Navy anti-sub frigate HMS Glasgow

The Irish Sun

22-05-2025

KATE is the Princess of Sails as she launches her first naval ship - by smashing a bottle of whiskey against its hull.
The
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The Prince of Wales and The Princess of Wales attend the ship's naming ceremony
Credit: Andrew Barr
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The naming ceremony took place at the BAE Systems shipyard
Credit: Andrew Barr
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Kate was named the sponsor of the vessel in 2021 and attended the ceremony today
Credit: Andrew Barr
The state-of-the-art Type 26 anti-submarine frigate, is designed to provide protection to the UK's nuclear deterrent and aircraft carriers.
Kate was named the sponsor of the vessel in 2021.
Just a year later,
During the ceremony today, she smashed a bottle of whiskey against the ship's hull as part of a tradition dating back to the 1800s.
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Queen Victoria is believed to have been one of the first people to take part in the custom, when she broke a bottle of champagne on the hull of HMS Royal Arthur.
After the ceremony, which officially launches the ship, the royal couple will board the vessel and meet with representatives from UK defence manufacturer BAE Systems.
The Prince and Princess will also visit the BAE Systems' shipbuilding academy to meet apprentices and graduates and hear about the shipbuilding and maritime training the students received.
The students are taught an incredible range of skills, which were used to build the boat, including craft trades like fabrication, sheet metal work, welding, and pipe fitting.
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The event will end with the future King and Queen meeting a employees from BAE Systems, who have a wide variety of skills, trades and backgrounds before meeting the ship's company and their families.
William and Kate made headlines just days ago when they hosted a lavish garden party in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.
The Princess met with
Kate had met
Liz's parents have created a charity called Capture to support those with Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumour, in their daughter's honour.
"If you need any help fundraising, maybe I can help. Please stay in touch, really."
Kate has opened up about how
Meanwhile, Will was struggling with his own grief surrounding his mother's death while working to support their children.
He revealed it was the "hardest year" of his life.
A close friend told The Sun: 'Last spring and early summer, things were really very tough.
'Keeping things as normal as possible for the 'kiddies', as Catherine calls them, was paramount. Her mum in particular was a tower of strength and support.'
Inside Kate Middleton's inseparable bond with 'pa' King Charles
By Richard Palmer
THERE was a time when King Charles complained he rarely saw Prince William and his family, but these days
Back in early 2015, some friends of the royals were saying that the then Prince Charles was unhappy because his elder son and wife never brought their toddler son Prince George to see him.
The couple, it was alleged, were much closer to Michael and Carole Middleton.
But there is no doubt that the monarch and Queen Camilla are closer to the Prince and Princess of Wales these days.
The family's rift with Harry and Meghan has helped to bring them closer, according to some insiders, and the King and Kate's dual cancer diagnosis and treatment at the same time has deepened their bond.
Kate has always been the steely one, holding the family together but has had to find strength during her chemotherapy treatment from the love and support that her husband, children, and other relatives, including notably her father-in-law, have provided.
In January 2024 when they both found themselves in the same hospital, the London Clinic, for operations the King went to see his daughter-in law.
He was in for an enlarged prostate and she was there for planned abdominal surgery.
It was a small gesture, one perhaps not so surprising, but it demonstrated their closeness in a world of royalty where family members worry that visiting sick relatives can be disruptive for the medical staff because everything tends to stop if the monarch comes calling.
When they both discovered they had cancer in the aftermath of surgery, Charles and Kate supported each other, according to well-placed sources.
As The Sun revealed shortly afterwards, when the right time finally came in March, the King went to see her for a heart-to-heart conversation over an 'emotional' lunch at Windsor Castle the day before she released a video announcing her cancer diagnosis to the world.
In public, the affection in which Charles holds his daughter-in-law was plain to see when he installed her beside him on the Buckingham Palace balcony for the traditional flypast after Trooping the Colour in June 2024, her first public appearance since her diagnosis.
It is all a world away from the impression that is sometimes given of a cold, austere family hidebound by hierarchy and tradition.
In the warm embrace of their family, both the King and the Princess have found a bond that has sustained them through what has been a dark period in their lives.