Little boy asks Kate Middleton if she was a prince

Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spoke to children during a visit to the Orkney Islands

The Duchess of Cambridge cleared the air with a confused little boy who asked her if she was a prince during a visit to Orkney on Wednesday.

Kate Middleton and her husband Prince William chatted with children from Glaitness Nursery in Orkney’s main town of Kirkwall, after visiting the tidal turbines half a mile off the coast.

They were taken to see the 680-tonne, 73 metre-long Orbital O2 superstructure via a Royal Navy vessel and were invited to pour Scapa Whisky over its 20 metre-long rotor blades for good luck.

The machine, launched in April, will have the capacity to generate enough energy to power 2,000 UK households a year once it is connected to the European Marine Energy Centre.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a royal tour of Scotland, which William is carrying out in his role as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

After they arrived back on the islands, the couple spoke to the nursery-age children who said they were desperate to meet “a real prince and princess”.

One little boy pointed at Kate and asked: “Are you the prince?”

She replied: “No, I’m the Duchess of Cambridge. Lots of people call me Catherine.”

Some of the young boys were keen to show off their trainers to William, and one said: “Well, you must be the prince.”

The couple also officially opened the new Balfour Hospital on the islands and thanked medical staff for their work during the pandemic.

The trip marks their first official visit to the remote Scottish archipelago and they were greeted with applause and cheers from nurses and other well-wishers early in the tour of the new £65 million hospital.