News
Prince William visits Cardiff and presents the Prince William Cup
8th November 2008
Prince William visited Cardiff today to open a new media centre and present the Prince William Cup.
For his first engagement of the day, Prince William opened Media Wales’s new Media Centre in Cardiff.
Prince William was given a tour of the multi-media newsroom by managing director Keith Dye where he shared jokes with staff.
He also met Welsh rugby legend Gareth Edwards and they chatted about the match that day between South Africa and Wales for the Prince William Cup.
Prince William was shown photographs of himself when he met staff on the picture desk and joked: "2,000 pictures of me looking gormless."
The Prince also met executive editor Sandra Loy who was monitoring incoming news and said: "I'm surprised it's not Obama, Obama, Obama all the way down."
The Prince also met staff on the sports desk who will be covering the Prince William Cup match between Wales and South Africa just across the road in the Millennium Stadium.
Prince William was then introduced to South Wales Echo editor Mike Hill, a fellow Aston Villa fan, and told him: "I've only met about three, we are in short supply!"
Mr Hill showed The Prince a cartoon, drawn by the late Welsh cartoonist Grenfell "Gren" Jones MBE, and published in the Echo on the day he was born.
Depicting William's birth, the caption read: "She won. He's to be William Arthur Philip Louis. If it had come down tails he'd have been Arkle Nijinsky."
Gren drew daily cartoons for the South Wales Echo for more than 35 years, including a Saturday cartoon strip called "Ponty & Pop", depicting the Welsh obsession with rugby.
Before leaving, Prince William officially opened the Media Wales building by unveiling a 10 metre-long wrought iron cartoon in memory of Gren, who died in January 2007.
The cartoonist's children, Daryl and Chris, were present at the ceremony.
The media centre was the first fully integrated print and digital regional newsroom in Britain when it opened in April 2008.
Media Wales publishes the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday, Celtic Newspapers, various websites and the magazines Business in Wales and WM Fashion.
The Prince's next stop was the Millennium Stadium where he was attending a drinks reception in the Cardiff Arms Suite ahead of the match, and was joined by Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. Prince Seeiso is well-known to Prince William and Prince Harry, as a co-founder of the Sentebale charity with Prince Harry.
Prince William was also introduced to the Official Harpist to The Prince of Wales, Claire Jones, who was performing at the reception.
Miss Jones, from Pembrokeshire, said: "It was a pleasure to meet him, he was absolutely lovely.
"I was playing the Royal harp and later on will be playing a different harp on the pitch, playing for the whole of the crowd before the teams run on.
"I think they're both pretty nerve-racking."
The crowd of 75,000 rugby fans will be the largest audience she has played for and Miss Jones will play her own arrangement of Variations on Men of Harlech.
She said: "It's a combination of something a little bit more traditional with something a bit more modern in the new arrangement.
"It's quite showy and flamboyant. It shows off what the harp can really do."
At half-time, the Prince met privately with wounded troops from Headley Court rehabilitation centre who had been invited to the match by the Welsh Rugby Union.
At the end of the game, Prince William presented the Cup to John Smit, Captain of the winning South African side.
The Prince William Cup commemorates over 100 years of rugby history between Wales and South Africa. It was inaugurated by the Prince in November 2007.
Following the presentation, Prince William met with three troops awarded the Military Cross for their bravery.
Corporal Richard Pask, from 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh, said: "He was asking me what life was like in Basra and what happened when my Warrior got blown up.
"I sustained injuries but stayed on the ground and cracked on throughout."
Fusilier Damien Hields, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, said The Prince had also asked how he came to be awarded the Military Cross.
Fusilier Hields, 24, from Denbigh, said: "I got shot in an ambush on 3rd June 2007, in Afghanistan.
"I got shot in the chest, it went through my ribs, smashed my rib cage and straight back out, but I got up and carried on fighting.
"I carried on, but then I collapsed in lots of blood and the driver got me out."
Major Steve Webb, also from 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, said: "He asked me what it was like in Iraq and if I was going back.
"When he asked me what it was like, my answer was that a lot of it was not particularly pleasant because it's a difficult time but when you're with well-motivated, well-trained soldiers in pursuit of a common purpose it's immensely rewarding.
"He's got military experience so he could relate to that."
Major Webb, 38, of Swansea, said: "I was in the Four Rifles Battle Group in Basra and was awarded the Cross on behalf of the company."
The Prince also met with other guests including Commander Ken Houlberg, of HMS Westminster which is currently docked in Cardiff; Tori James who recently conquered Everest; and former Wales rugby players Ieuan Evans and Scott Gibbs.