theater

Royal watchers were all a-twitter — literally! — with a rare sighting of Prince William and his girlfriend, Kate Middleton, out and about in London this weekend, likely celebrating William’s recent success on crucial exams in his quest to become a search-and-rescue pilot.

Users on Twitter first alerted the public that Kate and William were in the West End taking in a performance of the acclaimed production War Horse, which William’s grandparents, The Queen and Prince Philip, saw in October.  William Rycroft tweeted, “The royal visits continue: Prince William and Kate Middleton watching War Horse tonight.”

And according to Mandrake at the Telegraph, William and Kate expected no special treatment at the venue: “Over the weekend Prince William took his girlfriend Kate Middleton to see [War Horse], too, and loved every minute of it, so I am told. The Prince, like his grandparents, was happy to be seated in the stalls along with hoi polloi.”

War Horse, which was first put on at the National Theatre in 2007, is based on a book by Michael Morpurgo.  The show’s official website explains that the story is a “tale of bravery, loyalty, and the extraordinary bond between a young recruit and his horse” set during the First World War.  The actors use life-sized puppets as a part of the production.

According to Richard Kay at the Daily Mail, the couple continued their weekend at the Nam Long bar in South Kensington, where, despite spending “four hours downing a mixture of champagne, beer and mojitos, finishing off with one of the establishment’s signature tipples, a Flaming Ferrari,” they were apparently still “very well-behaved.”