Kate Middleton may be one of the most athletic royals around playing tennis, hockey and going sailing and skiing. Always wanting to learn more, the Duchess has now added another sport to her impressive repertoire – scuba diving. The 33-year-old has passed an advanced scuba diving course and is a qualified diver, Kensington Palace has confirmed.
Having successfully completed the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Advanced Open Water Diver qualification, Kate is able to dive up to a depth of 98 feet, The Telegraph reports.
This is the most advanced qualification taken by most recreational divers, and means that the brunette beauty will be able to join her husband Prince William, an experienced diver, on more adventurous underwater trips.
Duchess Kate can now dive up to a depth of 98 feet in open water Photo: Getty Images
The Duke of Cambridge and Kate's family the Middletons regularly holiday in Mustique, where William has gone on deep dives to look for sharks. It is thought that Kate earned the qualification from a diving school in the private Caribbean island.
Kate's decision to complete the diving course may have been influenced by her husband, who is a keen diver and last year took over his father Prince Charles to become the president of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC).
Keen diver Prince William is the president of the British Sub-Aqua club Photo: Getty Images
"Diving is something the Duchess very much enjoys, and the Duke of Cambridge, who is of course President of the BSAC, has said in the past that he is hopeful his children will become interested in the sport," a spokesperson for Prince George's mom told The Telegraph.
The Duchess had to complete five dives, including a deep dive and an underwater navigation dive, to pass the course. She learnt how to cope with the physiological effects of deeper scuba diving, as well as how to handle equipment including a compass and a dive knife, which would be used in emergencies such as becoming entangled in fishing nets.
William has said in the past that he hopes his children will take up the sport Photo: Getty Images
Last year when William, also 33, became president of the BSAC, he donned a wetsuit and practiced diving and snorkeling with a group of youngsters in a swimming pool in Covent Garden, London. The future King opened up about his dreams for his first-born son George, who turned 2 in July.
"Scuba diving really has opened my eyes not only to many extraordinary sights, but also to the responsibilities that we have as guardians of the underwater world," said William. ''I hope that one day my son, George, will also experience the wonders that snorkeling and scuba diving have to offer.''
"At the moment bath time is quite painful," he joked. "But hopefully donning a snorkel and mask might calm him down."