The Princess of Wales wished the officers and guardsmen of the Irish Guards a happy St Patrick’s Day as she presented them with traditional sprigs of shamrock.
Kate – who has served as the regiment’s colonel since 2022 – also greeted its mascot, an Irish wolf hound named Turlough Mor, affectionately known as Seamus, as she attended the annual parade.
The royal was at the event at Mons Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, on Tuesday, wearing a bottle green coat with an Irish Guards cap star pinned to it.
After the event concluded with three cheers for the princess, she presented good conduct and long-service medals to three soldiers.
While meeting families in the officers’ mess, she spoke to Lance Sergeant Mills, who led the drums and pipes during the parade, his wife Jessica, and their daughter Vienna.
The three-year-old jumped up and down with excitement as Kate crouched down to speak to her.
The princess asked Vienna if she was excited, before telling her she had “beautiful hair” and applauding when the little girl twirled in her blue dress.
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She then offered her hands to the child, who took them before swinging towards the floor.
LSgt Mills described meeting the princess as “such a great opportunity”, and one his daughter had been excited about “all week”.
He said: “I led the drums and pipes on today, so that was a big moment for me in my career.”
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His wife, Jessica, said: “[Kate’s] just so easy to talk to, and really down to earth, I wasn’t actually expecting that. It’s my first time getting to come to the parade, so it was really lovely.”
St Patrick’s Day was celebrated by Irish communities across the globe.
In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani attended his first parade to mark Ireland’s national day.
In a video posted to X, he said that it was on Irish soil that the British developed their “colonial project” and hailed the country’s history of resistance.
He said: “For centuries, generation after generation waged a lonely effort for independence. Year after year, uprising after uprising, they were beaten back, and still they kept coming.”
In Washington DC, Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin had breakfast with Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance before meeting Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
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After celebrating the economic ties between Ireland and the US, Mr Vance said: “I actually think that understates the cultural friendship between the United States and Ireland. So many of the greatest Americans were people who came from Ireland or their families came from Ireland.”
