I'm craving cupcakes, Duchess of Cambridge tells school cookery class in Grimsby

 
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The Duchess of Cambridge hinted that she is craving cupcakes during her pregnancy when she spoke to a cookery class on a visit to a school today.

She accepted a crown-shaped biscuit with "Kate" written in icing from 12-year-old George Shingleton and remarked on the "delicious" cooking aromas in the classroom.

"She talked about cupcakes," said food technician Sharon Swales. "She said 'I bet you are lucky enough to cook cupcakes'. She said 'delicious' about 10 times.

"She obviously loves cupcakes if she is talking about them. If we had known, then we would have cooked them."

Kate was given a tour of the £22 million Havelock Academy in Grimsby before watching students perform three songs from the Queen musical We Will Rock You and unveiling a plaque to mark the building's official opening.

As she left, she told principal Nigel Whittle - who, at 30 is the youngest headteacher in the country - that touring the "brilliant" school brought back happy memories of her own school days.

After signing her name in the visitors book, she said: "Thank you very much.  It's great to see everyone and so many different activities. You have lots of happy students.

"It's been an absolutely fantastic time. It reminds me of being back at school. I loved my schooldays."

David Ross, co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, whose charitable foundation was responsible for the new school, said: "This has been an absolutely fantastic day in the life of Havelock Academy."

Mr Whittle was joined by his eight-month-pregnant partner Anna and their one-year-old twin daughters Georgie and Elsie at the opening.

Kate spoke to Anna, whose baby bump was prominently on display in a line up of VIPs. "We just talked about the weather really," Anna said. "She said she has not been able to see a lot because of the fog."

Mr Whittle said Kate was a "role model" for his pupils. The school is located in the second most deprived ward in the country.

He said: "This will be such an inspirational day for all the children here. She is such an impressive role model. They can relate to her very well."

All 1,000 pupils gave Kate a rapturous welcome as she arrived, and she stopped to talk to several as she walked from her car.

Tage Lawn, 13, said: "I said 'Hello, your majesty'. She said 'Are you alright?' She was pretty. You think of royals speaking really posh but she spoke a bit normal."

Yasmin Noble, 17, said: "She was really good and down to earth."

Kate was shown photography coursework and saw students on rowing machines and playing table tennis and hockey, but did not take part in any sports activities.

The musical performance involved a chorus of students, led by Alfie Eke, 15, and Hattie Cattell, 15. They sang We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions and Bohemian Rhapsody, watched by Kate from the front row.

"We were nervous," said Hattie. "You could see her in the darkness. You could see her face."

Earlier the Duchess told onlookers that she could feel her baby moving.

Bobbie Brown, 42, said: “I asked ‘has the baby been moving or kicking?’ She said ‘Yes very much so.’

“But she didn’t say ‘yes he has’ or ‘yes she has’.”

Kate arrived about 70 minutes late at 12.45pm because of fog, which prevented her helicopter — the Queen’s Flight operated by the RAF — from landing at Humberside airport, 12 miles from Grimsby.

Crowds of several thousand waited for hours to catch a glimpse, and Kate appeared at her first engagement, a heritage fish museum, shortly before 1pm.

The Duchess, who appeared tanned after a weekend on the ski slopes, was wearing a chocolate three-quarter length Hobbs coat and a Great Plains dress.

She met Bernard Webster, 59, who was born eight days after his father died in a fishing tragedy in 1954.

Mr Webster’s trawlerman father was one of a dozen crew of the Laforey, which was lost off the coast of Norway. He said meeting the Duchess was “out of this world”.

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