The Duchess of Cambridge, née Kate Middleton, has expressed her wish to visit the Empire State Building on her and Prince William's visit to New York. The royal was initially left off the list of attendees for an official visit to the Big Apple's most famous building on Tuesday by royal aides, but told staff she'd like to go too. A royal source said: "The Duchess has told us that if she is feeling up to it she would like to join her husband at the Empire State Building on Tuesday.
"Her programme has been put together to take account for the fact that she is five months pregnant and had an illness for the first stage of her pregnancy." The 86th floor viewing platform is famous for its spectacular vistas of New York, as well as for being the location where Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan met for the first time in the romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle. Kate will be able to ask Hollywood actor Tom personally about filming the scene when they meet at a dinner later the same day.
In a huge gesture as the royals arrived in the US, the Empire State Building lit the top of the tower red, white and blue. The building's official Twitter account wrote: "We welcome Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge by sparkling in red, white and blue."
Another landmark also chose to honour the British royals, who have never before been to New York. The Carlyle Hotel, where William and Kate are staying for two nights, replaced one of their American flags with a flying Union Jack, hooked into the facade of the Art Deco building.
On their first evening the dup headed to a private dinner with 30 financiers. On Monday, Prince William made his way to Washington D.C. to visit the White House and meet with President Barack Obama. Kate, meanwhile, stayed behind to visit a local child development centre in Harlem, accompanied by New York's First Lady.