A visit to Birmingham saw the Prince and Princess of Wales celebrating the city’s culture; and it also saw William taking reservation orders over the telephone.
Billed by Kensington Palace as a visit to “celebrate the city’s diverse culture and heritage and meet future leaders in the creative industries,” William and Catherine first visited the Indian Streatery restaurant.
The Indian Streatery is a family-run Indian restaurant that serves authentic Indian and British-Asian fusion meals. All of the chefs are female, and the owner is Head Chef Meena, who opened her business in 2017.
Embed from Getty ImagesDuring the visit, as William and Catherine were in the kitchen learning more about the business, the telephone rang and the future king rushed to pick it up. He could be overheard asking the customers what time they planned to come, and later, when the diners arrived, they were interviewed by reporters.
“I didn’t know at that moment, but it’s a very nice surprise,” Vinay Aggarwal told them. “Obviously I will be telling everyone, it’s not something that happens often. I didn’t recognise his voice at all, this is the first time I was listening to him on the phone, so I genuinely thought someone was taking the booking for me.”
On social media, the couple wrote: “Hope we told this customer to come to the right place…!”
After speaking with the Sharma family that runs the restaurant, the royal couple also met students from the nearby University College of Birmingham who have trained there.
William and Catherine then tested out their cooking skills by making handmade roti, which is a flatbread served with curries and cooked vegetables.
Next, the royal couple travelled to an event at The Rectory, located near Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter where they hosted designers, artists and playwrights to learn how the artistic and cultural sectors are growing in the city, and their own experiences running businesses.
Embed from Getty ImagesPopular ITV presenter Alison Hammond joined William and Catherine during their visit to The Rectory—stopping to play darts with the future king—and shared a selfie of the trio on her Instagram account.
She captioned it: “These two are Everything !! @princeandprincessofwales Thanks for popping by in birmingham. Next time dinner at my place! I’ll let you know full story tomorrow on @thismorning.”
William and Catherine then wrapped up their visit to Birmingham with a public walkabout.
