Kate Middleton lets slip that Louis is mad about rugby as she looks sharp in a burgundy suit
KATE has let slip that Prince Louis is mad about rugby — but she loves to tackle a trampoline.
The Princess of Wales, dressed in a sharp burgundy suit, also said her family of five were competitive when it came to playing sport.
Her comments came at a reception for England’s World Cup-winning Wheelchair Rugby League squad.
The mum-of-three, 41, said: “We’re always slightly competitive with each other.
“They all love sport and Louis is mad about rugby.
“They are at an age where they just love running around.”
But her keep fit regime does not yet involve a scrum machine — instead she hits the trampoline.
She told one of the players: “It’s running around after the children. I do it all.
“Whenever I can squeeze in exercise I do, even jumping on the trampoline with my children before school.”
Rugby has long been a favourite of royals.
Kate’s husband, William, 40, played at school, while his brother Harry, 38, claimed one downside of life in exile in California was not being able to find rugby balls to teach son Archie how to play.
The brothers’ cousin, Peter Phillips, 45, played for Scotland at a junior level.
And Kate became the royal patron of English rugby in February — taking over from Harry as he headed into US exile.
Now, four-year-old Louis, who stole the show with his antics at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, is following in the royal boot-steps by taking up tag rugby.
The wheelchair squad’s head coach, Tom Coyd, 27, said after the Hampton Court Palace reception: “Kate said Louis is doing tag rugby at school.
She was saying that it is quite basic at the minute in that he is just getting to grips with the passing and the running around.
“But when you are four-and-a-half you just want to get the ball and run in any direction.”
Kate told the squad that she and her family watched on TV as they beat France 28-24 in the World Cup final in November.
She added: “It’s this integrated network and community within the team, that’s what breeds the success.
“Huge congratulations.
“You’ve set the bar really high now, I’m going to have to come and see a game first-hand.”
Her common touch, echoing that of her husband’s mother, Princess Diana, was on show as she praised the squad’s dedication to their sport, telling them: “I bet you’ve been smiling since your win, you’ve all got used to smiling.”
And asked if she would try playing with the wheelchair team, she joked: “There’s no excuse now.
“I’m going to have to do some upper body strength.”
Sporty Kate has previously trained with the women’s rugby club at Twickenham — but also loves tennis, impressing Emma Raducanu during a knockabout in 2021.
William’s Di echo on roughsleepers
By Matt Wilkinson
WILLIAM followed in Princess Diana’s footsteps as he called homelessness “terrifying”.
The prince was told charities are helping kids as young as nine stay off the streets.
Wills, 40, echoed his late mother on a trip to youth homelessness charity Depaul UK in South London, where he met ex-rough sleepers who turned their lives around.
Di opened the first Depaul hostel in Willesden, North West London, in 1995.
William — taken on secret trips by his mother to meet homeless people at London’s “Cardboard City” as a child — has vowed to make the crisis a key theme of his public work this year.
Last year, he spent a day selling The Big Issue magazine on the streets of London.
Wills looked visibly shocked at the charity’s base in Bermondsey when he was told children as young as nine or ten need its support
He said: “It starts so young, it’s terrifying.”
Former soldier Lee, 27, told William he spiralled into a life of drink and drugs after losing his mum and home.
Chief executive Mike Thiedke said after: “Diana engaged with homeless people, or with people who were HIV positive.
“And it seems that her sons have stepped into this.”
Latest figures showed there were 120,000 young people and children either at risk of homelessness or homeless throughout the country.