Talk about a royal pain. After Kate Middleton, 37, and Prince William, 37, exited a charity event in London for the volunteer text support service Shout on Nov. 12, she nearly came close to wiping out on the pavement. In a “blink and you miss it” moment, Kate appears to stumble while attempting to get into her car, according to the Daily Mail (click here to watch the near-stumble.) Thankfully, Prince William didn’t blink, and he quickly reached out a hand to support his love. Kate — who was wearing black block heels, one that nearly came off her foot — promptly recovered and offered a smile to her hubby as they ducked into the waiting vehicle.
How ironic that Kate flirted with catastrophe after showing support to a crisis line. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were on hand to celebrate the Shout volunteers. Kate and William launched the crisis text support service in May, and it brings volunteers together across the United Kingdom to help those in need. In the six months since its launch, 1,5000 volunteers have had more than 145,000 text conversations, exchanging a total of six million messages, according to Daily Mail.
75% of the people who have contacted Shout have been under the age of 25, and the most common issues raised are suicide, depression, isolation, anxiety, self-harm, and relationship-based stress. Volunteers usually work from home, and this event in London was an opportunity for the virtual community to meet and get a better idea of the scale of their work.
Prince William and Kate Middleton had a “crisis” of a different nature about a month before this slight stumble. While the British royals were en route to the capital of Pakistan, their plane was forced to turn around and head back to the city of Lahore. The reason for the unexpected detour? A massive, terrifying storm stuck Islamabad, and the pilot couldn’t safely land at the Pakistani Royal Air Force Base. Thankfully, they were able to safely turn around and land in Lahore.
“A terrifying electrical storm hit as we tried to land at Islamabad,” tweeted People magazine’s chief foreign correspondent Simon Perry, who was also traveling with the royals. “Lightning seemed to be crashing around the right wing. Despite the best efforts of the pilot William and Kate’s RAF Voyager plane, we couldn’t land there.” Once they were on the ground, Prince William – a former ambulance pilot, joked with the press when asked if everyone was okay. “I was flying!” he said.