Prince William receives touching gift in Estonia – but reckons Princess Charlotte will ‘probably try to poach’ it!

Prince William has revealed how Princess Charlotte will ‘probably try and poach’ a touching gift he received during the first day of his state visit to Estonia.

The Prince of Wales, 42, visited the The Freedom School in Tallinn on Thursday during his two-day trip to meet students and their teachers at the institution founded to educate Ukrainians in the capital. 

In a sweet moment, William accepted a friendship bracelet in the Ukrainian colours before playing basketball with students. 

Student counsellor Yelyzaveta Lukiianchuk, 18, asked if she could give the royal the accessory made by the pupils in the Ukrainian colours of blue and yellow.

As she fixed the bracelet on to William’s wrist, he said: ‘Brilliant, my daughter will probably try to poach it off me later. She loves all of these friendship bracelets. Thank you very much I love the Ukrainian colours, thank you. That is very kind.’

Princess Charlotte, nine, has been spotted wearing friendship bracelets ever since she attended the first night of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in June 2024 with her father William and brother Prince George. 

Weeks later at Wimbledon, Charlotte was spotted wearing two threaded bracelets, one featuring various shades of pink and another boasting green, blue and pink fabric.

Meanwhile, eagle-eyed royal fans noticed a playful addition to Prince George’s otherwise formal ensemble in his 11th birthday portrait as he was spotted wearing one of the bracelets.

It was not the first time George has been seen wearing the bracelet, with the young royal again sporting it with a smart suit when he attended the Euro 2024 Final between Spain v England.

King Charles was also spotted wearing what appears to be a friendship bracelet during some engagements, including for his visit to Guernsey in July with Queen Camilla. 

Made up of yellow and red thread, the band seemed to be similar to versions sported by Charlotte when she attended the Wimbledon final with her mother in July. 

In November, William was seen wearing a home-made friendship bracelet bearing the word ‘Papa’ – the name his children call him – in Cape Town. His daughter is understood to have made the item for him especially before the trip. 

In September, William joked that Prince Louis could try to steal Charlotte’s friendship bracelets.

The prince was meeting with pupils who took part in Welsh language festival Urdd Eisteddfod at Swiss Valley Community Primary School.

Among them was ten-year-old winner Ruby Davies, who sweetly gifted William some friendship bracelets in a pink envelope to give to his children.

The Prince was delighted by the gift – and even gave an insight into daily life between Charlotte and her cheeky younger brother Louis, six.

‘That’s so sweet,’ William said, after carefully unwrapping them. ‘Did you build them at home? Did you put them together yourself?

‘Thank you so much Ruby. They’re going to love those, you’ll see them out and about. I’ll keep them away from Louis because he’ll try and steal all his sister’s bits.’

On Thursday, at the school in the capital Tallinn, the future King was taught to say good afternoon in Estonian and Ukrainian then chatted to a group of 16 to 18-year-old students during a Ukrainian language lesson.

During the visit the prince also tried his hand at playing basketball but failed to score a point.

The prince began his day by spending around 35 minutes with Estonia’s President Alar Karis at his official office in Tallinn and at the start of the meeting the statesman thanked the prince for the presence of the UK troops at Tapa military base.

He said: ‘With British troops at Tapa we really, we really appreciate it.’

The prince’s trip is being made predominately in his role as colonel-in-chief of the Mercian Regiment, and on Friday he will meet soldiers from his regiment taking over Nato defence duties in Estonia from The Royal Dragoon Guards.

The president appeared to misspeak when he mentioned the UK’s defence minister and not the armed forces minister who had commented on Nato earlier, when he told William: ‘This morning the defence minister said he’d probably send some troops to Ukraine. Hopefully, some of these troops will stay also.’

Military chiefs from the UK and its allies met in the UK to discuss how a peacekeeping force could operate in Ukraine to deter further Russian attacks if a deal to end the war is reached.

Ahead of the meeting armed forces minister Luke Pollard, commenting on the gathering of military leaders from the ‘coalition of the willing’ told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘If one nation offers fast jet combat air, like a Typhoon aircraft, for instance, how will the other nations work alongside it? Where will it refuel?

‘How will it operate with other nations’ capabilities. It’s that type of planning that we’re doing today to make sure that any force in or around Ukraine can be as credible as possible…’

He went on to say: ‘If a deployment means moving a military asset or capability that’s already deployed, how can we backfill those commitments to make sure that we’re not simply moving all our available resources into one location and leaving other flanks of Nato exposed? That’s why this planning is so important today.’