Kate Middleton stuns shoppers on surprise market visit with William to Tik Tok sensations

The Prince and Princess of Walesserved up crumble and custard to unsuspecting shoppers as they made a surprise appearance at Borough Market today. The couple were put to work chopping cheese, and Princess made coffee for her husband, who suggested a market stall could sell it instead.

They were met by crowds of Londoners and tourists, who seemed shocked to see the future King and Queen and thronged around them wielding camera phones. The Prince and Princess made their way around the market on foot, with crowds moving around them without security barriers. It was their first stop on a day out in London, which will see them make several unannounced visits and finish with an engagement at an RNLI station on the River Thames.

The programme was built around the river, designed to illustrate how it remains at the heart of London communities and trade. At Borough Market, famous as one of the capital's oldest food markets, the Prince and Princess visited Trethowan Brothers, an award‑winning family cheesemakers producing small‑batch traditional cheeses.

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They have had a stall at the market since 1998. The Prince gestured to a tall tower of cheddar, asking questions of owner Todd Trethowan and happily agreeing to a taste test.

Both the Prince and Princess tried their hand at slicing the Pitchfork Cheddar, and Catherine asked which cheese was the most popular. Mr Trethowan said afterwards that they were "big cheese fans", telling him "that's lunch taken care of!" when he gave them cheese and chutney to take away. Asked about their cheese cutting skills, he said: "They were naturals".

They were particularly interested to hear about the "blossoming" success of the British cheese industry, he said, after he told them many young people are now getting into the job. Walking through the market, occasionally stopping to greet people and waving as they moved, the Prince and Princess then stopped at Change Please, a social enterprise supporting people experiencing homelessness through barista training and wrap‑around support.

Last year, the Prince’s Homewards programme funded Change Please to run an employability scheme in Northern Ireland. Prince William told staff he would like to get the coffee into the cafes of the royal palaces, naming Windsor Castle in particular. "It's fantastic," he said.

The Princess was keen to learn more about coffee grinding, asking "can you show me how to do it" as she darted inside the stall to try her hand. After taking a few minutes to work the machines, froth and pour, she held a coffee cup out and said "William, I made you a coffee!" Appearing to know he would not drink it, she conceded "it's not decaf" and he suggested: "They [stallholders] can sell it!" In the end, she carried it around the market herself, taking a sip.

Their third and final stop was at Humble Crumble, a dessert business which grew from a single market stall into multiple locations and now has a large social media following, especially on Tik Tok. The Princess greeted founder and creative director Kim Innes enthusiastically, telling her she had watched her on Masterchef last night.

Ready to work, Prince William and Catherine put aprons on and stepped inside the market building to serve up pots of crumble and custard. The Prince took charge of ladling the fruit and crumble, while the Princess was tasked with the embellishments: pouring custard, piping pink marshmallow fluff, and sprinkling toppings.

Gabriel Unger, the CEO of the company who placed the first order from the royal visitors, proclaimed "taste test: very good". He joked that they would "pass their trial shift" easily and be offered a job, if they wanted. "It's completely surreal," he said, adding that Catherine in particular had done a "brilliant job".

Ms Innes said the Princess's piping skills were "fantastic", adding "She could teach the team, she's a natural" while William "did a good job of the correct ratio of fruit to crumble." Hundreds of people, most holding up phones for photographs, thronged close to the couple but watched respectfully as they got to work.

Afterwards, the Prince and Princess stopped for selfies and shook hands with those in front of them before heading to the nearby Bermondsey Beer Mile, known for over 20 craft breweries, taprooms, and bottle shops nestled in the heart of Southwark.

There they visited the Southwark Brewing Company, which was founded in 2014 by Peter Jackson and began as a home-brew kit into a full brewery. Both William and Kate were given the chance to pour pints as well as climb ladders to stir one of the brewhouse kettles and add in malt.

After they went to Fabal Beerhall, the latest venture of Hiver Beers, which is an independent, female-owned brewer of specialty beers using only British ingredients.

It was founded by Hannah Rhodes, who started with a simple but distinctive idea: use raw British honey, sourced exclusively from independent UK beekeepers, as a core brewing ingredient. Afterwards the couple then headed on to a boat where they sailed up the Thames to the RNLI Tower Lifeboat Station.

RNLI Tower is the charity’s busiest lifeboat station, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from its new premises opened in 2023. The station’s crew of staff and volunteers respond to emergencies along the Thames and have already been called out 45 times this year.