The Duke of Cambridge has revealed pregnant wife Kate has been trying old fashioned remedies to combat her sickness - including ginger biscuits. William said that Kate, who is suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, was 'feeling better', but that ginger hadn't helped much.
He was chatting to 98-year-old Iris Orrell at a charity reception and awards ceremony for the Metropolitan and City Police Orphans Fund, of which he recently became Patron.
© Photo: PAAsked how Kate is feeling, William replied: "She's been feeling better, thank you."
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Iris told William that she, too, had suffered from severe morning sickness when she was pregnant with each of her three sons.
Suggesting that the Duchess may be suffering more this time around, William asked Iris: "Did it get worse with each one?"
She told him it had and said her doctor had refused to give her thalidomide - the drug that was later found to cause severe birth defects - and instead recommended she eat dry biscuits.
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Chatting about how ginger is said to help with nausea and sickness, William said Kate had tried the remedy, but seemingly with little success.
"Ginger biscuits," he said, adding: "But there's not much ginger can do to stop that. We've done all that."
Iris and her siblings were looked after at the police orphanage in Twickenham from the age of seven to 15 after their mother died and their police sergeant father Frank Butler was retired from the force with severe arthritis.
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The reception and awards ceremony, at London’s Guildhall, was held to mark 80 years since the orphanage closed and became the Fund in its present form, helping families of Met and City police officers who have died, retired or are unable to support them.
© Photo: PADozens of families attended the event, including the widow and young daughter of PC Keith Palmer, who was fatally stabbed by a terrorist in March while guarding the gates of the Palace of Westminster. Wife Michelle and daughter Amy met William privately.
William also met the family of Sergeant Steven Cox, who guarded the gates of Buckingham Palace and William and Kate's home Kensington Palace for five years until his death from leukaemia in 2014 at the age of 46.
Steven's widow Sarah,45, and her children Jessica, 17, Ruby, 15, and Harry, 11, chatted to William about how the Fund has helped them and showed him photos of Steven on duty.
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"He said he remembered him," said Sarah, a police constable in Lewisham, south east London. "Steven used to come home with lots of stories and said it was a real privilege to work at the palaces. He used to talk about how William and Kate's dog Lupo was always running around."
William also met Imogen McLay, 9, from Maidstone, Kent, whose 42-year-old father Iain died in a motorbike accident in 2009 when she was just 21 months old.
Admiring Imogen's bronze coloured hairband, which was shaped like a cat’s ears, William told her: "Charlotte would love your ears."
© Photo: PAAnd he also warned her: "Never ride a motorbike", before admitting that he rode one himself. Imogen's mum Natalie, 45, said: "William said he rides a motorbike so I told him off about that and he agreed that it’s dangerous."
The Metropolitan and City Police Orphans Fund, which began in 1870, is thought to be the oldest police charity in the world. Following the closure of its orphanage in 1937, it has supported more than 15,000 children whose parents have subscribed whilst serving, helping with things like clothing, university fees and school trips. Last year more than £1million was handed out to families.
