William and Kate will visit the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow as the sports event draws to a close. The Prince and Princess of Wales will join spectators on Saturday, which is the penultimate day of the games.
The royal couple – who are known by their Scottish titles, the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, when visiting the country – will also meet Team Wales athletes and their families.
The sporting event affectionately known as the “friendly games” has been attended in recent days by the Duke of Edinburgh, vice patron of Commonwealth Sport, which delivers the games, and his wife.
On Saturday games-goers can watch a range of sports from athletics and boxing to netball and judo. It comes after the King and Queen emerged from a Tardis at the Hydro arena in Glasgow during the opening ceremony.
View 3 ImagesWilliam and Kate(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)
The scenes were reminiscent of London 2012 when Queen Elizabeth II appeared to skydive into the Olympic Stadium alongside James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
The opening ceremony in Glasgow was the first to be held indoors as part of a radical restructuring of the games’ finances after Australian state Victoria withdrew as host of the event in 2023, citing spiralling costs.
The future of the event, which originated as the British Empire Games in 1930, was in doubt until Glasgow was convinced to step in and reprise its hosting role from 2014, albeit with significant alterations.
William and Kate will also spend time with athletes competing at the games whose careers have been empowered by the charity SportsAid, which Kate has supported as patron since 2013, and meet emerging talent taking part in the Team England Futures project.
Sporting stars whose early promise was boosted by SportsAid include Sir Chris Hoy, Ellie Simmonds, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill and Tom Daley.
View 3 ImagesKing Charles III and Queen Camilla walk on stage during the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games (Image: Getty)
The international sporting event returned to Scotland for the first time in 2014 last week but there has been one major change when it comes to the coverage of the games – they are no longer free to watch.
TNT Sports was announced as the Games’ live UK broadcast partner earlier this year with all coverage being shown behind a paywall.
It’s the first time in 72 years that the BBC lost their rights to the games with the broadcaster previously confirming: “Our bid was unable to match the financial offer from the market. We wish them every success for next year.”
While some live coverage has been broadcast on BBC Alba and iPlayer between 5:30pm and 10pm each evening, the majority has been shown on TNT Sports.
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The Commonwealth Games runs until August 2 when the closing ceremony will take place at the OVO Hydro.