On Monday, Kate Middleton joined the Irish Guards for a St. Patrick’s Day parade in London, her first time participating in the parade solo since becoming the regiment’s Colonel-in-Chief. The Princess of Wales took over the job from her husband, Prince William, in late 2022, and they both attended the 2023 parade together. Kate missed last year’s parade due to her extended recovery from abdominal surgery, and five days later, she announced that he had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer.

The 2025 edition of the parade—which often counted Kate as a guest even before her official affiliation with the regiment—was followed by a trip to the Wellington Barracks, where the princess joined the soldiers for a half-pint of Guinness. According to the Telegraph, she put down money for the soldiers’ bar tab. “It’s the least I can do,” the princess said. She added that she had missed taking part in last year’s celebration.

Hello reports that the princess, who was wearing a familiar green Alexander McQueen coat and gold shamrock brooch, also told soldiers about traveling with her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. “George finds it fascinating that he has been to Australia and New Zealand,” she said, referring to a 2014 royal trip to the Pacific, when Kate and William brought their young son along. “I would like to go back there with them now. It’s finding time to do that. But I love to travel – yes, it’s a long flight. But I love the Middle East because that’s familiar to me [from] growing up.” As a young child, Kate spend a few years in the 1980s living in Jordan, and she has since returned with her family.

Though the princess hasn’t returned to a full schedule since announcing that her cancer was in remission in January, she has been taking on more public engagements, including a Sunday trip to the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales with William on Sunday. While watching a rugby match between England and Wales’ national team, Kate mentioned her sons’ love of the sport. “Louis is six and he’s just started touch rugby, and George is 11 and he plays a bit more,” she said. “They do really enjoy it.”