Prince and Princess of Wales take to the ice as they meet Winter Olympics heroes – and visit the iconic Kelpies on day of engagements in Scotland

The Prince and Princess of Wales showcased their competitive side as they took to the ice to try their hand at curling today.

Kicking off a busy ‘away day’ to Scotland, William and Catherine, known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, visited the National Curling Academy in Stirling to wish the Team GB and Paralympics GB Curling teams good luck ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games that start in Milano-Cortina next month.

Curling, which sees players slide stones across the ice towards a target area, is one of Team GB and Paralympics GB’s most successful winter sports, earning six Olympic medals and two Paralympic medals to date.

But the prince and princess soon learned just how difficult it is to master the sport after being given a short introduction of how to throw the stone.

Skips Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds gave them a five-minute demonstration on how to push off from the rubber hack, a foothold in the ice, and use the slippery sole they were given to propel themselves forward.

After doing a few practice lunge motions, Catherine appeared apprehensive to take to the ice and told her husband: ‘You can go first.’

‘Are you sure?’ He replied. ‘It won’t make a difference.’

But he confidently took a stone and bent down into position, saying ‘here we go, let’s see what happens’ as he slid off.

Laughing, William said, ‘It’s not going very fast,’ but silver medallist Mouat reassured him that you usually have sweepers to help a stone reach the house – the target at the end of the ice strip.

Catherine then tentatively took to the 45-metre long sheet, holding onto her husband’s right arm as she carefully stepped onto the ice.

Hoisting her long skirt up and tucking her hair behind her ear, the princess got into position.

Appearing increasingly nervous to spring off, William told her: ‘Just lean on both Catherine,’ in reference to the red stone and the delivery stick, used for beginners to help steady themselves.

She then pushed off but immediately lost her balance. Laughing, she quickly regained control but in the commotion forgot to let go of the stone.

‘Come on,’ she said, having only managed to go a few metres in front of the starting point, before pushing the stone forward.

Keen to correct her mistake, she asked if she could have another go, and was delighted to be told by Nigel Holl, executive performance director from British curling, that they would now be going head to head.

With the help of two sweepers each, the future king and queen were challenged to get closest to the button, the centre of the house.

‘No pressure guys,’ the prince said, laughing.

William started confidently, with the princess saying: ‘You’re doing very well’ as it finished on the outer blue ring.

‘Good sweeping,’ the prince told Rebecca Morrison and Grant Hardie, who used brooms to increase the stone’s speed.

Clarifying how to push off properly, Catherine got into position, clearly determined to do better than her husband.

Having managed to successfully throw the stone, she looked on anxiously as it was swept.

‘Come on, come on, keep going,’ she said as it approached the house.

When it stopped right in the middle, Catherine high-fived Dodds, who was part of the gold medal winning team at the last Winter Olympics, and celebrated with a fist pump in the air.

The prince and princess had arrived at the state of the art training centre 35 minutes later than planned, as they stopped off to take a closer look at The Kelpies in Falkirk.

The couple posed for a photo in front of the striking 30‑metre‑tall steel horse‑head sculptures that embody the fusion of Scotland’s rich heritage and mythology with the power of Scottish industry and engineering.

Arriving at the centre to cheers from members of the public, William and Catherine stopped to shake hands with the well wishers.

They then made their way to the curling centre inside the building, which is also home to a swimming pool, gym, indoor sports hall and a climbing wall, with the princess stopping to change out of her heeled boots and drop off her blue tartan coat.

Inside, the prince and princess spoke to each of the Women’s, men’s and para Team GB players in turn.

Captivated by the sport as play continued on the four rinks, Catherine asked about the upcoming Olympic Games: ‘Do you feel ready for this moment after so much training going on?’

While chatting to Mouat’s team, they heard how the four men narrowly lost out on a gold medal to Sweden after a sudden-death extra end at the 2022 Beijing Games.

With the same team selected again this year, Catherine told them: ‘One better this year.’

They were then shown how the game is adapted for wheelchair athletes, and were surprised to hear that no sweepers were involved.

Jo Butterfield told the couple that she won club throw gold at Rio 2016 before switching from Para athletics to wheelchair curling in 2023.

 

 

She spoke of her ambition to become the first British athlete to win gold at both summer and winter Paralympic Games.

Her mixed doubles partner Jason Kean was desperate to get a picture with the royal guests, and the couple gladly obliged.

Though William was worried they were too far away and told him: ‘Come back a bit Jason, otherwise I’ll slip on the ice!’

Meanwhile Hugh Nibloe, the only member of the squad to have competed at a Paralympic Winter Games before, told Catherine that they shared the same birthday, prompting a sweet hug from the princess.

On the way out, the couple stopped for selfies and handshakes, despite being hurried by staff as they were running considerably behind schedule.

William repeatedly told well-wishers that they had just given curling a try for the first time.

‘It’s harder than it looks,’ he said. ‘If you don’t have a sweeper you’ve got no chance!’

The Curling Academy, which opened in August 2017, just months before the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, has transformed Team GB’s training.

Its creation has allowed British Curling to stay at the forefront of the sport, responding to the need for the programme to give all of the athletes year-round access to high quality ice, which was not previously available in the UK.

In Beijing 2022, the teams secured a gold and silver medal, marking the only podium finishes for Team GB.

Speaking afterwards, Morrison, 28, said it was ‘such an honour and pleasure’ to meet the Prince and Princess of Wales today and hoped their visit raises the profile of the sport.

The first time Olympian said: ‘You just don’t get opportunities like that, so for us to be chosen as a sport that they came and visited was just amazing. They were so lovely to speak to and they were brilliant at curling.’

But she sat on the fence when asked who was more of a natural on the rink: ‘I can’t go there, I think they were both brilliant. I was very impressed with both of their slides.’

The next stop of the day will be at Radical Weavers, a tartan-weaving studio and independent charity in Stirling.

The organisation was established in 2019 and aims to help to tackle social isolation and support people affected by trauma and loss by offering the chance to learn traditional Scottish tartan-weaving skills in a safe and welcoming environment.

The couple will meet with Mairi Breslin, founding director of Radical Weavers, to learn about the heritage of Scottish tartan weaving.

They will also be told about how tartan-weaving can be a therapeutic experience and help people who have experienced trauma to gain confidence.

The Prince and Princess will be offered the opportunity to take part in weaving tartan themselves alongside others in the studio, including weaving a small piece of Radical Weavers’ latest project – creating the world’s longest tartan scarf.

Their final engagement of the day is embargoed for security reasons – but promises to be equally lively.