Prince William made an unannounced visit to Poland amid tight security today to visit British and Polish troops helping Ukraine’s war effort against Russia.
Prince William has arrived in Poland to meet with troops helping the Ukraine war (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
The Prince, who visited Poland in 2017 with Kate, Prince George, and Princess Charlotte, praised British troops for their role in defending freedom and also thanked the Polish people for supporting their Ukrainian neighbours.
Prince William is showing his support for the Ukraine war effort (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
Prince William was shown a Sky Sabre system (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
She said: “I’ve never met any royalty before, so it was very exciting. It meant a lot to meet [the Prince]. It was quite special. My nan’s friend delivered him as a baby. I thought that was quite funny.”
She said she might share the encounter with her grandmother’s friend later on.
Prince William visits British Armed forces in Rzeszow Poland (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
LCpl Pettifer, who is two weeks into a six-month tour of Poland, said she told Prince William about her work training troops in first aid.
She added the royal visit was a “big deal” and people were “very excited” he was there.
William, arrived at the military base wearing a grey blazer, shirt, navy chinos and brown brogue-style shoes.
For security reasons, his visit had been shrouded in secrecy, with only palace officials and a small contingent of the travelling press privy to the arrangements.
William was greeted by Poland’s defence minister and deputy prime minister Mariusz Blaszczak, who wore a brown leather jacket, shirt and black trousers.
The deputy prime minister gave a speech in which he expressed his gratitude for the co-operation between British and Polish troops.
Prince William was shown a missile launcher before meeting the troops (Image: Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror)
He was shown a vast array of military equipment, including a Polish self-propelled howitzer artillery system that had a British turret.
Major Przemyslaw Garema, 35, a professional soldier in the brigade, showed the Prince the enormous artillery machine.
“It is very important equipment which Poland donated at the beginning of the war to the Ukraine, we delivered a few batteries then,” the Major said. “We have been training the Ukrainian soldiers in order to teach them how to use this.”
Prince William sits among the troops (Image: Ian Vogler / Daily Mirror)
At his second engagement William thanked British troops based at an air defence base roughly an hour’s drive from the Ukrainian border for “defending our freedom”.
Dressed casually in a black puffer jacket and trousers, he was shown a missile launcher before meeting the troops.
“Just a big thank you for what you do on a day-to-day basis. I know some of you are coming to the end of your time out here. So looking forward to a bit of R n R when you get home. You are doing a really important job out here and defending our freedoms is really important and everyone back home thoroughly supports you. And everything you are doing with the Poles and our Polish counterparts in providing that safety is really important. Lovely to meet you and good luck.”
