The Duchess of Cambridge spent the day in the Lake District, mountain biking with Air Cadets and sailing with a pair of Holocaust survivors to learn more about their stories.
Kensington Palace billed the day as a chance to highlight “the beneficial, lifelong impact that nature and the outdoors can have on young people.”
During her visit with the Air Force Cadets, Kate took part in abseiling and mountain biking excursions. While waiting for her turn to abseil, she spoke with Itelouwa, a 13-year-old from Lancaster. He shared their conversation with Forces, an online military-focused news site.
“She was about to abseil, and I was next in line, so she asked me if I wanted to go before her. I was a bit scared, so I said no,” he said. Itelowa ultimately decided against abseiling but said that Kate was supportive of his choice.
“I think she was very kind. Even though she is a Royal Highness, she still does things normal humans do.”
Kate’s visit with the Air Cadets also marked the official opening of the RAF Air Cadets’ Windermere Adventure Training Centre, which has been newly renovated to enable cadets from across the UK to visit the Centre and undertake activities that will inspire leadership, build skills and help them achieve their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
The Duchess of Cambridge is the Honorary Air Commandant of the Royal Air Force Air Cadets, a role she inherited from the Duke of Edinburgh in 2015.
A young man named Josh Binnie said that Kate told him he was made of tougher stuff for trying gliding and said: “She was very nice, a lot less formal than I expected.”
Following her visit with the Cadets, the Duchess took part in a boat trip with two of the ‘Windermere Children’, a group of 300 Holocaust survivors who were evacuated to the Lake District in 1945 to escape the atrocities they faced at the hand of the Nazis and to recuperate.
Kate joined Ike Alterman and Arek Hersh for a trip across Lake Windermere, hearing more about their experiences during the Second World War and beyond.
“She was absolutely delightful,” Alterman told People magazine following the trip.
“We laughed, she asked questions, and she wanted to know the answers. We talked about her kids and my kids and how we love the lakes. I have two girls and two grandchildren. I told her what happened to me during the war and when I arrived and how I progressed in business later.”
Hersh told reporters that being with Kate on the water “brought back happy memories of being on the lake.”
In a series of tweets on the Kensington Royal Twitter account, the Duchess shared a personal message, writing, “I wanted to be able to meet some of the survivors Ike & Arek in person to hear their stories; about how they went on to create their own companies, write a book & to this day, still sneak in the odd round of golf.
“It was so powerful to hear how their time in the Lakes enjoying outdoor recreation, sport and art therapy, allowed them to be able to begin to rebuild their lives and eventually, their families here in the UK.”
Following the boat ride, Her Royal Highness visited the Jetty Museum, where she met with the families of Holocaust survivors and learned how Cumbria helped them to recover from the terrors they survived. She also heard more about the Lake District Holocaust Project and how it has documented and educated people about the Windermere Children.
Kate has previously spoken about the importance of documenting and preserving the stories of Holocaust survivors, writing: “It is vital that their memories are preserved and passed on to future generations so that what they went through will never be forgotten.”
