Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton flew into Mumbai and met children from three NGOs, took an open-top bus tour and played a cricket match
Mumbai: Britain’s Duke and Duchess of Cambridge played a charity cricket match with underprivileged children in Mumbai on Sunday, the first day of a week-long tour of India that will include a trip to the isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan.
Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton began their first engagement in India by laying a wreath at a memorial at Mumbai’s iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel, where 31 people were killed in the 2008 attacks.
They met children from Magic Bus, Childline and Doorstep- three non-governmental organisations that work with children.
They took an open-top bus tour and played a cricket match with a team from a local cricket academy and kids backed by the three charities.
Kate, in sunglasses and a red, white and blue summer dress, faced a few deliveries from Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar. She struck one ball only to be caught out, leading to a lively exchange between William and the fielders.
The royal couple, travelling without children George and Charlotte, were due to attend a Bollywood-inspired charity gala on Sunday night amid speculation that Kate may appear in a sari from a top Indian fashion designer.
William and Kate’s tour takes in New Delhi, where they will lunch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a wildlife park in Assam famed for its one-horned rhinos, and Bhutan.
Their tour ends back in India next Saturday at the Taj Mahal, revisiting the scene of a solo—and much photographed—visit in 1992 by William’s mother, the late Princess Diana, to the monument to love. Reuters
AP contributed to this story.
