Prince William Walks In Kate Middleton’s Footsteps, Visits Ancient Ruins In Jordan Where She Posed As A Child

Prince William made a sweet pit stop during his visit to Jordan. The royal family member toured the Roman ruins at Jerash accompanied by Jordan’s Crown Prince Hussein and he came across the same rock that his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, sat on for a family photo when she lived in Jordan as a child in the 1980s. The sentimental spot was marked with a large, 2-foot by 3-foot enlargement of a picture of Kate with her dad, Michael Middleton and sister, Pippa, posing on the rocks more than three decades ago, according to Hello magazine.

“Michael’s looking very smart in his flip-flops,” Prince William joked of the throwback 1986 photo featuring his father-in-law.

Prince William also reportedly said that he would have to take his three children to see “Catherine’s rock” someday. The Duke of Cambridge then climbed onto the rocks himself and was photographed in the same spot, effectively recreating the Middleton family photo 32 years after the original was taken.

“Need to come back with the family for this shot,” Prince William said after his solo pose, according to The Telegraph.

You can see the side-by-side photos taken in Jerash and released by Kensington Palace below.

The Duke of Cambridge visits Jerash, the same site that The Duchess of Cambridge visited, aged 4, with her sister and father when the family lived in Jordan. pic.twitter.com/PMoFrr4Snt

— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) June 25, 2018

Samia Khouri, director of museums at the Jordan’s Department of Antiquities, revealed that Prince William did not expect to see his wife’s family photo when he came across the location of the Middleton clan’s 1984 pose.

“He was very surprised when he saw the photo he did not expect that,” Khouri told the Telegraph. “But that’s why he was here, because he wanted to take a photo at the same spot where Kate was photographed.”

During his five-day tour of the Middle East, Prince William has spoken of Kate’s time in Jordan, where she lived for three years starting when she was two years old. During his trip to his wife’s childhood home, William found out that Kate’s pediatrician in Jordan now lives in the Middleton family’s former house.

William reportedly said Kate would be “thrilled” to hear that, and added, “She loved it here, she really did. She is very upset that I am coming here without her.”

Hello reports that during a speech when he first arrived in the country, Prince William reiterated that Kate was sorry to have missed his historic trip, which was scheduled too soon after the birth of their son Louis.

“Her family remembers very fondly the almost three years she spent here as a child when her father worked for British Airways in Amman,” Prince William said.

Kate Middleton’s family moved to Jordan in May 1984 when she was two years old and her baby sister Pippa was just eight months old. Michael Middleton worked as a British Airways manager at the time and was relocated to the Jordan capital for work. The future Duchess of Cambridge went to an English language school while the family lived in Jordan for three years, before returning to Berkshire in 1986.