Class act.
Helping hand: William and his wife Kate help prepare care packages for military children. (Daily Mail)
Their last stop in LA was an engagement was at a jobs fair at Sony Studios on behalf of Service Nation: Mission Serve – a programme honouring members of the armed services.
Prince William and Kate Middleton ended their US tour paying tribute to Americans who serve in the military.
The Daily Mail reported:
After their glamorous trip to California, feted by A-list celebrities, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined the hoi polloi on an ordinary commercial flight home to the UK .
They were greeted by British Airways staff on a sun-drenched runway at Los Angeles airport – a marked contrast to their blustery arrival at Ottawa airport last week.
Arriving at LAX in a Range Rover, they said their goodbyes after their hugely successful tour of Canada and California, their first official royal trip.
The tour has, apart from a couple of minor demonstrations, been heralded a huge success not just for William and Kate but for the British Royal Family…
…Their last engagement was at a jobs fair at Sony Studios on behalf of Service Nation: Mission Serve – a programme honouring members of the armed services, at which William thanked Los Angeles for welcoming him and his new wife.
He said: ‘As this is my last opportunity before we leave this afternoon, I would just say, on behalf of us both, how grateful we are to have been welcomed so warmly in the Golden State and the City of Angels. Thank you so much.’
They have enjoyed an action-packed tour that has seen them take part in casual events, where their ease as a couple and love for one another was on frequent display, to the more formal, allowing William to show his statesman qualities.
At their final event in the U.S., for Service Nation: Mission Serve, the royal couple arrived in a motorcade with an escort of 17 officers from the Californian Highway Patrol – affectionately known as Chips – who had British flags fixed to the back of their large bikes.
Service Nation: Mission Serve is an umbrella organisation set up by the U.S. government which brings together different service charities to support the re-integration of servicemen and women into civilian life.
William and Kate were greeted by Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and chief executive of Sony Corporation, and then led inside a building for a 25 minute-long private meeting with the senior staff from the programme.
In Sound Stage 15, a huge 42,000 square foot open-plan building, dozens of business recruitment stands for the former U.S. servicemen and women were set up.
Sets from iconic movies were built in the huge area, ranging from the yellow brick road from the Wizard of Oz to elements of the latest Spiderman movie. Sir Paul McCartney has used it as a rehearsal space.
The royal couple were cheered by the ex-servicemen and women and their partners who were attending the fair when they arrived, and the couple did a short walkabout.
On stage, with an enormous 60ft American flag in the background, the Duke said: ‘This is the last event on our tour of North America, but to my mind, it is one of the most important.
‘This is because it is about men and women who – of their own free will – choose to put their life on the line for their country.’
He added: “Service Nation: Mission Serve, and all the companies and employers taking part today, are providing opportunities which mean something very immediate and personal to us.
‘Catherine and I both have friends back in Britain who could benefit from a brilliant initiative like this.’
William made the audience laugh by taking a swipe at his brother Prince Harry: ‘I am delighted, therefore, that our Foundation – and in that I include my low-flying Apache very average brother – is a partner in today’s event.’
That last military stop must have shocked the Hollywood libs, huh?
