Kate Middleton and Prince William Surprise Market Goers at London Landmark by Serving Coffee and Dessert

The Prince and Princess of Wales visited with patrons of London’s popular Borough Market on March 12

Kate Middleton serves dessert at the Humble Crumble in London’s Borough Market on March 12.Credit : 

Andrew Parsons / Kensington Palace

Some unsuspecting visitors got their breakfast served to them by Kate Middleton and Prince William on Thursday, March 12, at London’s Borough Market.

The Prince and Princess of Wales headed to the 1000-year-old venue, as they highlighted the vibrancy of life around London’s River Thames and the lives of those who work there. The market has become a huge draw for tourists and Londoners alike in recent years.

The royal couple enjoyed browsing the food and drink stands. Princess Kate, 44, tried her hand at being a barista, heading behind a stall to make her husband a coffee, and she and William, 43, helped serve up a crumble dessert at another stall.

The couple started their morning at Trethowan Brothers cheesemakers, who make small-batch, traditional cheeses at their dairy in North Somerset, western England. Their stall at the market opened in 1998, bringing cheeses such as Pitchfork Cheddar and award-winning Gorwydd Caerphilly to London. Stalls like theirs have helped make Borough Market a destination for foodies and restaurateurs.

Princess Kate and Prince William then headed to the coffee makers Change Please, which is an award-winning social enterprise whose profits go towards helping people experiencing homelessness. The organization trains homeless people to become baristas and supports them with everything they need to turn their lives around, including a living wage job, accommodation advice, therapy, a bank account and future employment opportunities.

The stop was especially poignant William, whose Homewards program is spearheading initiatives around the U.K. to combat homelessness. In 2025, Homewards funded Change Please to run an employability program in Northern Ireland.

They were also taken to see dessert makers Humble Crumble. The business was started by Kim Innes in 2018 at a farmers’ market stall in London. The simple idea of serving the classic British dessert of fruit crumble with custard quickly caught on and later that year the business expanded into market locations, including across the British capital.

Borough Market is one of London’s oldest food markets and is home to more than 100 traders and tenants, including artisanal producers, street food stalls, restaurants and pubs. It has become well-known in recent years for Instagram and TikTok-ready photo and video opportunities for influencers and vacationers alike.

After visiting the market, the couple then took a walk along what is known as Bermondsey Beer Mile, a route featuring over 20 nearby craft breweries, taprooms and bottle shops. It has been a center for London’s brewing industry since the 17th century.

William and Kate visited Southwark Brewing Company, which was started by Peter Jackson as a home‑brewing hobby in his garage.

There, Princess Kate tried her hand at brewing, climbing up a ladder and sporting long gloves so she could stir some beer in a large vat with a long stick.

“Wow, look at that,” she said, peering inside.

“What do I do?” she asked before being told to “put it in, give it a bit of a stir.”

Their next stop was to Fabal Beerhall, a venture run by Hiver Beers, an independent, female-owned brewer of specialty beers Founded by Hannah Rhodes, the brewery uses raw British honey, from independent U.K. beekeepers, as a core brewing ingredient.

This all came ahead of William and Kate’s trip to a RNLI lifeboat station near the Tower of London on the River Thames.