The Duke of Cambridge has completed the final day of his solo tour of Finland; activities included presenting Prince George’s Christmas list to Santa Claus and meeting Al Gore at a technology festival.
The first engagement of the day was held at Slush, a technology festival at Messukeskus Expo and Convention Centre in the Finnish capital.
Prince William Duke attended the launch ceremony of the festival, which aims to encourage and promote the next generation of technology entrepreneurs. The Duke was spotted trying out a Virtual Reality headset, and was presented with two hobbyhorses, as a gift from organisers of Finland’s nation-wide movement ‘Brave Enough To Ride’, which encourages children’s confidence.
prince william received hobby horses for his children as he visited helsinki (kensington palace)
The second-in-line to the throne met with former US presidential candidate and passionate climate change campaigner, Al Gore. He also met Prince Daniel of Sweden, who was attending the festival, and they were seated together during the opening ceremony.
The event hosts over 2,600 companies and 1,500 investors, allowing them to network and negotiate funding for an industry, that has found it difficult to catch up with the tech giants of the USA.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
After this, Prince William arrived at a local comprehensive school, to observe how the Finnish education system puts mental well-being and the top of its agenda.
William chatted to teachers and students who were learning how to code computer programming, and dropped in on an English lesson.
Before he departed, the Prince listened to a song performed by pupils, and signed the school’s visitor book.
the duke of cambridge watched a programming lesson and an english lesson as he visited a school in helsinki (kensington palace)
Later in the day, The Duke of Cambridge appeared at a traditional Christmas market in Esplanadi Park. There, the 35-year-old future King met with Finnish residents and handed Prince George’s Christmas list to Father Christmas.
He confirmed his son had been ‘a very nice boy’ this year.
The Duke enjoyed a lunch at City Hall, Helsinki, to celebrate the achievements of Finland’s young leaders. The lunch was also attended by the British ambassador to Finland, Sarah Price.
The last stop of William’s first visit to the Nordic nation, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary of independence, was at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, where he met and chatted with members of the Finnish Defence Forces. The former RAF search and rescue pilot viewed the cockpits of multiple aircraft flown by the Finnish Air Force.
Looking animated as he climbed into aircraft, the Prince and was clearly interested in how Finnish pilots train specifically to fly in winter weather and challenging conditions. Prince William has flown around the coast of Wales, and more recently in Norfolk as an air ambulance pilot; he left the role in July to take on full-time royal duties.
HRH, The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William @KensingtonRoyal visited Finland on 29-30 November. The Duke’s visit included a presentation of the #FINAF pilot training. The event was hosted by the @Finnchod General Jarmo Lindberg and #Comfinaf Major General Sampo Eskelinen. pic.twitter.com/lxTH6qxDOI
— Ilmavoimat (@FinnishAirForce) November 30, 2017
He flew back to London earlier this evening.
