Duchess of Cambridge reveals Prince George and Princess Charlotte were excited to go back to school
Watch: William and Kate play Pictionary with students they met on tour in Pakistan
The Duchess of Cambridge revealed her children were excited to go back to school in September as she and her husband played a virtual game of Pictionary with a group of children in Pakistan to mark a year since they first met them.
The couple, who toured the country in 2019, called children at Islamabad Model College for Girls and the SOS Children’s Village in Lahore, which they visited while they were there.
Prince William and Kate, both 38, visited the village twice during their tour, and it’s understood they had requested to go back for the second trip.
They were given friendship bracelets by the children at the village, and William wore his during a documentary he filmed on mental health, which aired during lockdown.
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In the call released on Friday, they correctly guessed drawings showing birthday, recycling and cricket, and William joked he was glad he wasn’t doing the artwork.
Kate wore a gold kurta during the call, and William wore a suit and shirt but went tieless.
After hearing about how the school was coping during the pandemic, they turned to the game, with Kate asking: “Is it a wedding?”
William then guessed “birthday” and Kate said: “Very good. That’s a really hard one.”
The duke said: “I’m really glad you guys are drawing and we’re not having to draw. You’re much better, you guys.”
Kate got the second answer though, as the one of the children drew a person putting a bottle into a bin, and she answered “recycling”.
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The last drawing showed cricket, which Kate correctly guessed.
The students asked the couple if they liked drawing, to which William responded: “Katherine is really good and I am really bad.”
Laughing, Kate told him: “It’s because you don’t practice enough.”
During the call with the village, William was shown a drawing of him playing cricket with a little boy called Ahmad Ghani.
Speaking about the game, he told Ahmad: “I do very much remember that. You were very good at cricket. We had a good game going and everyone told us we had to stop.”
He added of the picture: “Brilliant. That’s an incredible drawing.”
They also spoke to Minahil Kabeer, who made their bracelets, and Kate told her: “Thank you. We kept our friendship bracelets very safe, so thank you for those. They’re a lovely reminder of our visit when we came to see you.”
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Minahil asked how the royal children are, and Kate replied: “They’re so well. Thank you for asking.”
Kate added the children had been excited to go back to school.
Saba Faisal, national director at the SOS Village, said the kids there had also been ready to see their friends.
Faisal had asked the children if they wanted the holiday to continue and revealed they had said: “Absolutely not, we want to go and meet our friends.”
Kate said: “Our children were the same.”
William and Kate’s eldest children, George and Charlotte, both go to school at Thomas’s in Battersea.
Their youngest, Louis, is two, and not yet at school.
They also heard about how mental health had become a bigger focus since the pandemic, with Faisal saying: “COVID has shifted … it’s changed the world, its a new norm now, and definitely mental health has now become a big focus in everybody’s lives because of this virus and this disease.”
The SOS Children’s village provides a home for more than 150 boys and girls, and last year, William and Kate played cricket, did arts and crafts and attended a birthday party for one of the children.
Watch: Queen talks about coronavirus on visit with Prince William
