In a scarlet skirt suit and with heels high enough to aerate the pitch, she hadn’t chosen the most appropriate outfit for an impromptu knockabout.
Still, the Duchess of Cambridge didn’t hold back when asked to try her hand at a game of cricket with Prince William in New Zealand yesterday.
Unfortunately for her, neither did her husband. As the second-in-line to the throne took a run-up and bowled, he let fly ‘a wild full toss’ that whistled past Kate’s ear.
That prompted an amused glare and a wag of the finger from the duchess, but she had been in no real danger of a clonk on the head because the ball, like the bat, was plastic.
The couple were in Christchurch to publicise the Cricket World Cup, which the city will host next year, when they were roped in to playing a game with youngsters.
Kate, 32, who was wearing a red £495 skirt suit by Luisa Spagnoli, stepped gingerly on to the grass at the city’s Latimer Square, took up her yellow bat and ducked away from her husband’s first ball.
Undeterred, she stepped up again – only to be bowled on off-stump by her husband. She managed to hit one ball to mid-off, but missed two further deliveries before handing the bat over to her husband.
William, a keen player in his youth, struck several balls bowled to him by local schoolchildren with unfettered aggression – one again sailing close to his wife’s head. ‘Watch out, this will be a blur,’ he shouted.
Speaking afterwards Jodie Dean, 11, was unimpressed with Kate’s high heels. ‘It wasn’t very realistic,’ she said.
She bowled two balls to William. ‘The first ball was too high, a lot too high. My second ball was much better. He hit it, someone fielded it, no runs. I felt a bit better after that ball. He was pretty good.'
Jamie Elley, 11, who faced two balls from William, said: ‘He was rusty. He does too many full tosses. But the second one was good.’ When Timothy Cross, 12, bowled to William he was hit for four with a cover drive. ‘I was a bit gutted but I will get him next time,’ he said.
Lee German, chief executive of the New Zealand cricket association and the country’s former cricket captain, said: ‘Catherine and William were superb. The way they spoke to the children was fantastic.
‘I talked to them about the Cricket World Cup and how it was important for us as a city to have a major world cup and how we’re in the process of building an English-style cricket ground. Catherine told me she played cricket at school which was pretty interesting, she didn’t say when.’
The couple also took time to pay tribute to the 185 people who died when an earthquake struck Christchurch in February 2011.
The royals began their visit with a formal welcome from the Ngai Tahu Maoris at the City Council Building and giggled as Henare Rakiihia Tau, a tribal elder, told them in a speech: ‘Do what princes and princess do, increase your family.’
His comment came after weekend reports that William had supposedly hinted that another baby might be on the way – a suggestion quickly quashed when Kate enjoyed a wine tasting event before going on a white water ride that pregnant women are banned from.
During a walkabout in Christchurch the couple met five sets of twins who had been taken to the event by their mothers.
'I talked to them about the cricket world cup and how it was important for us as a city to have a major world cup and we're in the process of building an English-style cricket ground.
'Catherine told me she played cricket at school which was pretty interesting, she didn't say when.'
On an earlier walkabout in the city centre the couple met five sets of twins who had been taken to the event by their mothers.
Nicola Burton, 38, mother of 21 month old twins Lucas and Oliver, said: 'Prince William was just a little overwhelmed with how many babies there were. He said he hoped we weren't going to ask him to baby sit.'
Jeremy Hawker, the team leader gardener who showed Kate around said: 'She was very interested in the plants in the nursery. She said she grows her own vegetables at home.'
After the devastating 2011 earthquake that destroyed so much of the city the botanic gardens have become a haven for the local people.
Lynda Burns, Visitor centre team leader, explained: 'The Botanic Gardens was a very important to the people of Christchurch in the aftermath of the earthquake.
'So much was destroyed but this was the one place people could come and find peace and remember their childhood memories. So much had been lost but the botanic gardens was still here.'
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