SINGAPORE (AP) — Prince William and his wife Kate saw an orchid named for them and another for his late mother Princess Diana in Singapore on Tuesday, 15 years after she was to have viewed the flower herself.
Diana was due to visit the white orchid named in her honor in 1997, but was killed in a car crash two weeks earlier.
William stared at its delicate flowers, saying, “It’s beautiful, it’s beautiful.”
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to Singapore Botanic Gardens was their first stop on a nine-day tour of the Far East and South Pacific.
Manager Alan Tan Chye Soon said he was preparing for Diana’s visit when the car crash occurred.
“It was so sad that she never saw it. It is one of our favorite orchids, and most popular,” he said. “It was like William and Kate are fulfilling her promise today.”
The royal couple was also shown an orchid with white and purple blooms that is jointly named for them.
Kate wore a pale floral dress to the event. She was carrying an orchid bouquet when she and William greeted staff and spectators at the historic Raffles Hotel later in the day.
The couple will also visit the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu in honor of the queen’s Diamond Jubilee marking her 60 years on the throne.
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