Princess Kate ‘put £2,000 behind the regimental bar’ for the Irish Guards

We were told in January that the Princess of Wales would be unable to attend the St. Patrick’s Day parade at the Irish Guards’ barracks. Kate was given the honorary military patronage with the Irish Guards last year, having taken it over from William (who was then given a military patronage with the Welsh Guards). For over a decade, Kate’s job was merely to wear green, go to the parade and pin some shamrocks on Seamus, the Irish Guards’ wolfhound mascot. This year, instead of attending the parade, “Kate” was seen speed walking out of the Windsor Farm Store and apparently attending her kids’ sporting event. There were too few people asking: but what about the St. Patrick’s Day parade, we thought she was still recovering?? But apparently she didn’t forget about the Irish Guards after all. Per the Ephraim Hardcastle column in the Mail:

Recuperating Kate, unable to raise a Guinness toast on St Patrick’s Day as colonel of the Irish Guards, ensured her favourite soldiers were well refreshed at her expense. To their delight she put £2,000 behind the regimental bar at Aldershot for a party after the traditional parade.

My abacus calculates that with subsidised club prices the thirsty troopers were treated to at least 700 pints of the black stuff. And did she specify that regimental mascot Seamus, the Irish wolfhound, should be treated to a jumbo bone?

[From The Daily Mail]

If it happened, it was a classy move from an absent-and-speed-walking princess. I wonder who actually put the money down, because I doubt Kate remembered. One thing I also wondered was… why didn’t William step in for his wife? He’s been playing this “sympathetic husband, caring for his ill wife” card for months, but clearly, Kate is feeling much better now (at least that’s what they want people to believe). So, William genuinely could have stepped in with his old patronage, on behalf of his wife, and attended the parade and said “Kate would have loved to be here, she wanted me to buy everyone a round.” Alas, these people can’t problem-solve their way out of a wet paper bag.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid and Cover Images.