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Nation•Cymru A news service by the people of Wales, for the people of Wales.

Sport

Future Princess of Wales becomes patron of England's rugby union

By NationCymru
Kate Middleton picture by The Big Lunch (CC BY-SA 2.0). England v Wales, Rugby World Cup. By Marc (CC 2.0)

Kate Middleton has taken over from Prince Harry as the patron of England's RFU and RFL - despite being the prospective Princess of Wales.

The appointment, which comes just days before the start of the Six Nations, means that she will be supporting a different team to her husband Prince William who is Vice Patron of the WRU.

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, was stripped of the roles when he stepped back from royal duty.

The Duchess of Cambridge said she was excited to support "two fantastic organisations who are committed to harnessing the power that sport can have in bringing communities together and helping individuals flourish".

The post was announced on social media with a video of Kate, dressed in exercise gear, playing rugby on the grounds of Kensington Palace.

Bill Sweeney, Chief Executive of the Rugby Football Union, said: "It is a great honour to welcome The Duchess of Cambridge as our Patron. Our aim is to enrich lives, introduce more people to rugby union, develop the sport for future generations and create a successful thriving game across the country.

"As rugby clubs have re-opened across the country, players, officials, and volunteers are celebrating being back in the game together, and we know the support of The Duchess will be greatly valued from our grass roots clubs and fast-growing women and girls' game, right up to our elite Men's and Women's England teams."

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22 comments

Andrew Thomas

A good time to abolish the Prince of Wales the senedd shouldn't recognise the title but I doubt this will happen soon

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Stuart Cane

English woman to be patron of English rugby. Surely a story for nation.england not here?

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Cwm Rhondda

Princess of Wales? When will this nonsense end?

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Erisian

Just the wife of the latest of a seiries of dud princes foisted on the Welsh. Nothing to see here

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I.Humphrys

How about we have Shirley Bassey?

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What Ismyname

Why is this of any relevance to readers of this web site?

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Ap Kenneth

I do not really care whether the English RFU have Ms K Middleton as a Patron but can the WRU replace William Saxe-Coburg and Gotha with someone who actually supports Wales.

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Quornby

The last real princess of Wales starved to death in the Tower.

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I.Humphrys

Wandering the Net comments, l have noticed some posts by people from the mid to far east very much against former Imperial countries.

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Y Cymro

I don't want another freeloader foisted on Wales like Prince Charles was in 1969.. It will only be another copy & paste exercise where we have Prince William anointed as Prince of Wales under fanfare with him and his grinning cheshire cat Kate later visiting Wales at great cost to the Welsh taxpayer once a year with the usual fawning brown nose Unionist politicians & Z-list celebrities who surround themselves by flag waving school children happy just to have a morning off school, this done no doubt to groom & brainwash them into becoming future loyal subjects in their own open prison called Wales I want my nation to become an independent Welsh Republic. A meritocracy where a child can dream of becoming Prime Minister or President of Wales. Where all citizens are equal under our Welsh constitution, not slaves to false British Union & Germanic family who think they were born to rule. ,#YesCymru 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. #Ymlaen 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. #FreeWalesFromBritishRule 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

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Geoff Horton-Jones

This is so sad and disrespectful to all in Wales Gwenllian was taken in her cradle to Sempringham Abbey and detained there until she died there aged 55 Her mother Elinor De Montfort was married in Worcester Cathedral and died in the childbirth of Elinor. Her father Llewellyn was killed at Cilmeri close to Builth Wells in 1282 Whatever those. Battenbergs come up with they will never have a place in our Country

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GW Atkinson

Even if the royal family were Welsh I would be 100% against them. This is just even more of a slap in the face.

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Grayham Jones

Not in wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 and kick william out of welsh rugby pick a welsh person

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Mr Williams

I'm looking forward to the title President of Wales!

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Llywelyn ein Llyw Nesaf

I think you mean "Llywydd Cymru" - no English version. If Ireland can have an Uachtarán na hÉireann I think we can just have a Llywydd.

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Mr Williams

Yes, absolutely.

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Gareth Wyn Jones

Is it just me who has a problem with the emblem on the Welsh rugby shirt?

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Richy

So she'll be cheering England on in the rugby whilst sat as a Welsh princess in the stadium. The way the english media are throwing their support behind her now because all the others are falling like dead flies is nauseating.

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Llywelyn ein Llyw Nesaf

She will never ever be a 'welsh princess' whatever her father-in-law wants to call her, any more than I'm Prince of Berkshire.

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Quornby

Yes.... Mhegan has enough money in her own right and enough sense to say "sod this for a lark" and the English media do a job on her whilst wheeling out the obedient Kate as some kind of Mother Theresa figure. It won't stop the usual suspects crawling on their bellies to pledge undying devotion of course. Oops! don't trip over Hart on the way out.

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Ed Jones

Utter farce. Charles is no Prince of Wales, this historical nonsense must end with him.

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Stephen

Why the Welsh put up with freeloading blue bloods who Lord over us with their lavish lifestyle is beyond me. Our Royal family was wiped out by the very people who stand over us today but some Welsh don't know their history and accept this. Paying homage to the English elite is Wales biggest shame. The fact that one of them is being protected from the law even though he is known paedophile is disgraceful. Instead of money being wasted on these idiots we should invest in our children's future, education, hospitals. Its time to strip the English monarchy of the right to Lord it over the Welsh people by abolishing the title "Princess of Wales"

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Replying to I.Humphrys Cancel

How about we have Shirley Bassey?

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