Prince William and Kate Middleton are bringing the memory of Princess Diana along with them as they conduct their five-day tour of Pakistan. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in Pakistan on Monday evening. They are the first royals to visit the conflicted country since Prince Charles visited in 2006.
William and Kate enjoyed their first official outing of the tour on Tuesday. The couple visited the Islamabad Model College for Girls. The two learned about what it takes for a woman to get an education in Pakistan. They also bonded with teenage students over the legacy of the late Princess Diana. Diana visited Pakistan on three separate occasions, the last of which was just months before her tragic death in 1997. While Diana had visited the area several times, it's William's first visit to the country. The couple will meet with a number of people who had connections to the princess.
Prince William and Kate Middleton are in the midst of what the palace has called their "most complex tour undertaken," according to a royal statement. The couple touched down in Pakistan on Monday evening to begin the five-day tour.
The first full day of the couple's royal tour was in Islamabad. There, the couple visited the Islamabad Model College for Girls to learn about how girls in the country benefit from pursuing higher education.
Kate looked stunning for the occasion, continuing to wear traditional garb. She wore a royal blue shalwar kameez and a dupatta by Pakistani designer Maheen Khan. She completed the look with a pair of low beige heels.
That first stop included a touching exchange between a group of teenage girls and William and Kate. One student, 14-year-old Aima, told the couple how they were all "big fans" of the late Princess Diana, according to People.
William smiled at the remark and replied, "You were, really? Oh, that’s very sweet of you. I was a big fan of my mother too." It was clear that the Prince was touched that the country's youth remembers his mother fondly.
"She came here three times. I was very small," William recalled of Diana's visits to Pakistan in the 1990s. The last visit came just months before her tragic death. "This is my first time, and it is very nice to be here and meet you all," he added.
Aima told William that she hoped to be a brain surgeon when she grew up and asked what William had wanted to be. "Actually I changed a lot as I got older, but I always wanted to learn to fly. I was flying for a while actually," he replied. "I love flying, I feel very free [and] I like learning a skill, I enjoy that. I can relate the science of what you do."
William and Kate met with students of all ages at the school, which serves children ages 4 to 18. They even sat in tiny chairs to get on the level of kindergartners, who loved visiting with the royal couple.
Later in the day, William and Kate met with Prime Minister Imran Khan. The prime minister was an old friend of Princess Diana's and the distant cousin of Pakistani heart surgeon Dr. Hasnat Khan, whom Diana was romantically involved with for two years.
Diana was reportedly in love with Dr. Khan and trying to figure out the logistics of marriage during her visits to Pakistan. Sadly, the doctor couldn't cope with the media attention that Diana couldn't shake and ended the relationship just a month before her death.
"She had been involved with him for two years and she had wanted to marry him. It was clear that she was very deeply in love with [him],” Imran Khan revealed in a documentary three years after Diana's death. "She had decided he was the man she wanted to live with."
Many believe that Kate's outfit during the visit with the prime minister was a subtle nod to Diana. Kate wore a green tunic by Catherine Walker with a pair of cream pants by Maheen Khan and a printed green scarf by Satrangi. She finished the look with earrings by Pakistani jewelry designer, Zeen.
The color palette was reminiscent of an outfit Diana wore during her 1997 visit. She wore an aqua blue and green shalwar kameez during her visit with Imran Khan, who was a cricket player at the time.
Diana is heavy on the minds of the Pakistani people and on the minds of William and Kate during this visit. It's beautiful to see how much she still means to so many people 22 years after her death.
