The Prince and Princess of Wales made a surprise visit to the Bermondsey Beer Mile in London today, where they poured pints – and Kate made a rare reference to her cancer diagnosis
The Princess of Wales left the beer tasting to her husband on a visit to a brewery today when she said that she had cut back on alcohol “since my diagnosis”. Kate, 44, had chemotherapy in 2024 and last year announced that she was in remission from cancer.
During a visit to Fabal beerhall, Kate and Prince William were told about the Bermondsey Beer Mile, which is home to several craft breweries and tap rooms. When she was invited to try some beer and cider, Kate told owner Hannah Rhodes: “Since my diagnosis I haven’t had much alcohol.” She added: “It’s something I have to be a lot more conscious of now.” Rhodes, who offered Kate a soft drink instead, said: “Fair enough.”
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Turning to Prince William, Kate patted her husband’s knee and said: “But you like your cider, don’t you?” William then tried a fleet of beers and ciders, some of which came from Rhodes’ brand Hiver, which uses honey from bee hives as a replacement for sugar in the fermentation process.
Kate, who is known to be a beekeeper with hives at her Norfolk home of Anmer Hall, tried some of the honey by dipping a stick into a jar. The princess said: “If you take the honey off the hive in early summer it tastes very different.”
Speaking about harvesting honey from the hives, she added: “If you take the honey off when it’s wet it is a natural fermentation process anyway.” William laughed and joked: “She knows a lot about bees. Be careful what you say, you might be corrected.”
Earlier William and Kate tried their hand at brewing at nearby Southwark Brewing company, a craft beer company further down the Bermondsey Beer Mile which was founded in 2014 as one of the area’s first small-batch breweries under the railway arches.
Greeting Peter Jackson, 66, they were shown how to ascend a ladder where William wore black rubber gloves to add hops to the “kettle”. After tipping the hops in, William said: “It smells like horse feed as you’re doing it. There’s a real mixture of smells.” Jackson joked: “Yes. It’s good that it changes by the time it gets to your glass.” Kate then went up the ladder to stir them in.
They then had a competition to see who could pull the best pint, which was declared to be better than the owner. Peter Jackson told them: “Do you know what? You can come back on Saturday for a shift.”
He then pulled out his mobile phone to make a video call to his son, Will Jackson, an accountant who was celebrating his 34th birthday in Manchester. After showing Jackson how to start the call on his phone, the prince said: “William, happy birthday. I hope you’ve got a good party tonight.”
When told he was off to a restaurant to celebrate, the prince said: “Is your dad paying? We’re just in here trying not to ruin his brewery. We’ve just been given a pint-pulling contest.” William later said: “Pubs are so important,” saying that they were “Places for people and the community to come together.”
After leaving the breweries, the couple then travelled upstream by boat to the RNLI lifeboat station on the Thames. At the RNLI Tower Lifeboat Station, the Prince and Princess will hear about the work of the crews and volunteers saving lives along the Thames.
They will meet the duty crew, hear about recent rescues, and speak to lifeguards who are currently preparing for the upcoming Boat Race.
Tower is the RNLI’s busiest lifeboat station, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This visit comes as the RNLI marks the 25th anniversary of RNLI Lifeguards, who also patrol Britain’s beaches and support major river events. The Prince last visited the previous Tower Station site in 2016 and has also met RNLI crews in Cornwall and Anglesey.
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