Sports journalist and former Commonwealth Games champion Matthew Syed described his son’s surprise encounter with Kate Middleton.
In his Tuesday column in The Timesthe former table tennis player said he overheard a conversation between his son and a seemingly random woman while he was using the bathroom on a train on the way to the Commonwealth Games.
He only realized who his son was talking to right before he got off the train.
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“‘Come on Ted,’ I say, ‘we have to get off!’ ‘Oh, and thanks for keeping him company…’ I say turning to the woman waiting for her turn from her when I am stopped in my tracks.
“My brow furrows, my face works. ‘Kate?’, I blurt out. There are no security guards in the vestibule; no armed guards. But here is the Duchess of Cambridge, chatting merrily with my son.”
After getting off the train, Syed asked his son if he knew who he was talking to, and he replied, “No idea, but she was really nice.”
The journalist said their interaction took place while he was in the bathroom.
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“Judging by the laughter, they are having a whale of a time,” he wrote. “I hear my son telling the lady that his father once won Commonwealth gold and sense that he is brandishing the medal he has brought along for the occasion.”
He says the group continued chatting right up until they arrived at the Birmingham New Street station.
Syed also praised Kate for her amicability to his son,
“The Duchess had no idea she was chatting to the son of a journalist so I take this to reflect her character and sense of duty.”
“The monarchy is in consummate hands.”
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