Duchess Kate 'hugely grateful' for crew after plane incident: 'It was pretty bumpy up there'

Maria Puente, USA TODAY
Prince William and Duchess Kate of Cambridge spent Day 4 of their visit to Pakistan playing cricket, meeting kids at an orphanage and hospital, and visiting an historic mosque in Lahore on Oct. 17, 2019.
Prince William and Duchess Kate of Cambridge spent Day 4 of their visit to Pakistan playing cricket, meeting kids at an orphanage and hospital, and visiting an historic mosque in Lahore on Oct. 17, 2019.

Duchess Kate is feeling thankful for the crew members aboard her and Prince William's flight that ran into a fierce storm Thursday.

The royals' fourth day of their Pakistan tour started with cricket and visits to an orphanage and to an historic mosque in Lahore, but it ended with a lightning storm that prevented their plane from returning to Islamabad.

The couple, traveling on an RAF Voyager jet, departed Lahore, the country's "city of culture," according to Kensington Palace, in the evening but hit bad weather as it tried to land in Islamabad, where they had been staying since they arrived for a five-day visit on Monday.

"It was pretty bumpy up there," the duchess said Friday to reporters, according to People and the Belfast Telegraph. "We were looked after so wonderfully by the RAF who did a great job liaising with everyone and got us home safely."

She also said she was "hugely grateful" for the jet staff, per the outlets.

"At one point, lightning could be seen over the right wing as the plane bumped and rolled side to side over stormy Islamabad," reported People magazine, which had a journalist on the plane.

"Despite the best efforts of the pilot to land the RAF Voyager at two different airports, the plane had to turn back to Lahore. The flight was meant to take about 25 minutes, but the plane was in the air for two hours."

Emma Louise Bowden, the British Press Association reporter on the plane, tweeted a video clip.

"Those big flashes are the RAF Voyager, carrying William, Kate and travelling media, going through lighting - two aborted landings at Islamabad due to the storm and we’re back in Lahore," she posted.

Kensington Palace did not return a message from USA TODAY seeking confirmation. Pakistan is nine hours ahead of Eastern Time in the U.S.

Aside from that, it was a busy day for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Lahore, where they visited an orphanage and a hospital, played some cricket at the National Cricket Academy (Pakistanis are mad for cricket), and visited the historic, 17th-century Mughal-era Badshahi Mosque, the most iconic Islamic site in Lahore's Old City, known as the Walled City.

They also visited the children's ward at the free Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, founded by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to honor his late mother, and visited by his friend and William's mother, the late Princess Diana, in 1996 and 1997.

Video posted online showed Will and Kate at the bedside of a young cancer patient, Muhammed Sameer.

And Kate delivered a speech at the SOS Children’s Village, which was mostly in English but included some remarks in Urdu.

Duchess Kate showed off her cricket skills during a visit to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, Pakistan, on Oct. 17, 2019. In this picture by the Pakistan Cricket Board, Kate is wearing a traditional tunic-and-pants ensemble in white.
Duchess Kate showed off her cricket skills during a visit to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, Pakistan, on Oct. 17, 2019. In this picture by the Pakistan Cricket Board, Kate is wearing a traditional tunic-and-pants ensemble in white.

She talked about the importance of family in Pakistani culture, according to a transcript provided by Kensington Palace.

"Earlier this year, I talked about the fact that it takes a village to raise a child," Kate said, echoing former first lady Hillary Clinton's book title in 1996. "The village we have seen here today is the best representation of that ideal that I could have possibly imagined."

Prince William and Duchess Kate visited an orphanage, the SOS Children's village in Lahore, where Kate gave a speech, some of it in Urdu. She said she once talked about how it takes a village to raise a child.
Prince William and Duchess Kate visited an orphanage, the SOS Children's village in Lahore, where Kate gave a speech, some of it in Urdu. She said she once talked about how it takes a village to raise a child.

Kate wore two different outfits during the day. First up, she wore a white shalwar kameez (tunic embroidered with jasmine, the country's national flower, and matching pants) by Pakistani textile company Gul Ahmed and a matching shawl by Maheen Khan.

She changed from beige suede heels into canvas tennis shoes to show off her cricket skills on the field. The couple received cricket bats as gifts for their three children, Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 4, and Prince Louis, 1, although the little one is smaller than the bat.

Later, for the visit to the mosque, Kate had changed into another traditional outfit featuring a gold-embroidered tunic and pants in blue-green and a matching scarf draped over her head and across her shoulder.

As customary, both Will and Kate removed their shoes on entering and sat on tapestry cushions on the carpeted floor.

The Badshahi Mosque, built in the 1670s, is the second-largest mosque in Pakistan and an important example of Mughal architecture, with an impressive entrance and an exterior of carved red sandstone with marble inlay.

Kensington Palace said in a tweet that the couple toured the mosque and courtyard before joining a discussion with faith leaders to learn how they are promoting interfaith harmony within their communities.

Contributing: Erin Jensen

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kate Middleton, Prince William 'grateful' after plane hit by lightning