Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton sent an encouraging message to athletes as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games get underway.
“Looking forward to another few weeks of incredible sport!” the Prince and Princess of Wales wrote via their official Instagram Story on Wednesday, August 28. “Wishing the very best of luck to our @paralympicsgb_official athletes and all those competing at #Paris2024. W & C.”
The Paralympics start Wednesday and will continue through September 8. The games, first held in 1946, have become one of the world’s biggest sporting events, including over 4,000 athletes with disabilities. At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Great Britain came in ahead of the U.S. on the medal board with 41 gold and 124 overall compared to Team USA’s 37 gold and 104 overall. (China, however, topped both with 96 gold medals and 207 overall.)
William and Kate, both 42, are big supporters of athletics, but they did not attend the Olympics last month. Instead, they appeared in a video for Team Great Britain that also included shout-outs from the likes of Snoop Dogg and David Beckham.
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“From all of us watching at home, congratulations to Team GB,” Kate said in the Instagram video, shared on August 11. She stood next to her husband, who added, “Well done on all you’ve achieved. You’ve been an inspiration to us all.”
The royals looked very casual in the clip with Kate wearing a striped long-sleeve T-shirt and William rocking a “Team GB” collared shirt as well as a scruffy beard (which Us thinks deserves its own gold medal).
Their latest message comes while they are enjoying the end of summer in Scotland. The royal family typically spends part of August at Balmoral Castle. King Charles III and Queen Camilla were officially welcomed to the royal residence by the 5th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland on August 19.
The Prince and Princess of Wales recently joined them. They were first spotted in Scotland when they went to Crathie Kirk on Sunday, August 25, for the church’s weekly service. Charles, Camilla and Prince Edward were also in attendance.
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Public appearances have been a rarity for Kate amid her battle with an undisclosed form of cancer, which she announced in March. Kate — who shares children Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6, with William — confirmed that she underwent a preventative course of chemotherapy.
“As anyone going through chemotherapy will know, there are good days and bad days,” Kate said in a June statement. “On those bad days, you feel weak, tired and you have to give in to your body resting. But on the good days, when you feel stronger, you want to make the most of feeling well. I am learning how to be patient, especially with uncertainty. Taking each day as it comes, listening to my body, and allowing myself to take this much-needed time to heal.”
