Prince William and Kate Help the Queen Entertain at Balmoral Castle

Apart from introducing Prince George to his great-grandfather Prince Philip and discussing the upcoming Christening with the baby’s great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth, what have the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge been up to on their vacation at Balmoral Castle?

William took the son of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key with him on a grouse shoot, while Kate chaperoned the politician’s daughter on a walk through the woods.

Max Key, 18, didn’t shoot anything, because he didn’t know how to use the guns stored by the royals at the Scottish retreat. Besides, “They’re very hard to shoot, the grouse,” his father told the New Zealand Herald.

The prime minister’s daughter Stephanie, 20, joined Kate and a group of young women on the woodland amble, said Key.

During the two-day visit, according to Key, the family also got to meet, but not cuddle, two-month-old George. The littlest prince is a “very bonny baby,” he reports.

Part of Key’s formal visit included an audience with the Queen, who is New Zealand’s head of state.

In a news photo of the meeting, it can be seen that the Queen, 87, has framed and on display an official family portrait of William, Kate and Prince George, taken by Kate’s father Michael in August.

People Magazine