Sep 13, 2012

Singapore - Will & Kate Fire Up Singapore

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First pandas, now Britain’s royals. Singapore was hit by a fresh flurry of excitement Tuesday as Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, better known as Prince William and Catherine Middleton, arrived in the city state to kick off their Asian tour.

In the coming days the couple will travel around Southeast and South Asia as the part of the celebrations marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, and their first order of duty was to head to Singapore’s Botanic Gardens where – like the Queen, Margaret Thatcher, Elton John and Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra – they were honored by having orchids named after them. The royal pair also inspected a white orchid named after the princess’s mother, Princess Diana, which she herself was scheduled to visit in 1997 before dying in a car crash two weeks earlier.



During their visit, Wills & Kate, as they are popularly known, attended their first state dinner at the Istana palace with President Tony Tan and visited the billion-dollar Gardens by the Bay – a iconic new landmark with giant greenhouses and towering trees designed by British architects – where they were greeted by hundreds of giggly schoolchildren and cheering supporters waving both the British and Singapore flags. They also visited Queenstown, a housing estate of government Housing Development Board (HDB) flats named for the Prince’s grandmother during her coronation in 1953.

Making photo opportunities easier for royal groupies, Singapore’s Channel News Asia broadcasting station helpfully provided a map of the couple’s tour around the island which even states the specific time Will and Kate will be at various locations.

Of course, any brand remotely associated with Britain has not passed up on the opportunity to tailor special offerings linked to the Royal couple’s visit and to highlight their brand’s long tradition with the British isles. Rolls Royce, for example, brought the couple on a tour of one of their jet engine component factories in Singapore. A newly-opened restaurant specializing in British fare, the Royal Mail, has prepared a special menu for this week featuring cottage pie, apparently Prince William’s favorite entrée, beef stroganoff, which was served at Prince Edward’s wedding, and sticky date pudding, Kate’s favorite dessert.

British Airways too, launched an advertisement welcoming the couple to Singapore with a cup of tea – but served Singapore style, where ‘teh tarik’, the local tea traditionally prepared by pouring the tea between vessels to make it more frothy, is served up in a plastic bag and straws, on a silver plate fit for royalty. The ad helpfully reminds Singapore residents that they can fly British Airways to London, the couple’s home, for just over S$1, 400.

Singapore’s leaders, though, might be relieved that Prince William’s younger brother Harry didn’t tag along after his recent partying in Las Vegas, where he was photographed in nude while on a private visit. Analysts expect Singapore’s two casinos will bring in more revenue than all the casinos the legendary Las Vegas strip this year, but there is no word yet on whether Prince Harry will come to sample Singapore’s nightlife.

Shibani Mahtani



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