To conclude their 11-day tour of North America, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made a stop in Los Angeles, California. Not only did they join in on ServiceNation: Mission Serve’s hiring fair, “Hiring Our Heroes,” but they made some other stops as well, including the Inner-City Arts campus. So with all said and done, let’s go through some highlights and fun facts of the very Brit visit!
1. “This is the last event on our tour of North America, and in my mind it was one of the seriously most important. This is because it is about men and women who, of their own free will, choose to put their life on the line for their country.” - Prince William, in a speech at “Hiring Our Heroes”
2. William jokingly called Harry, who is jointly part of The Foundation of Prince William and Prince Harry, his “very low-flying, very Apache, very average brother” in his speech.
3. Prince William recognized that it is not just those actually in the military that are of importance, but the spouses play a significant role as well. He said, “It is about our other halves. The half that makes the loved one’s duty and sacrifice possible and worthwhile. It is about you.”
4. The Mission Serve job fair took place on the same historic stage where The Wizard of Oz was filmed, called Stage 15.
5. It turns out Kate wanted to know what it was like to be a military spouse. She said she couldn’t imagine a long deployment and said “the last time Will was gone for four weeks she missed him a lot” (insert “aww” here). Conversing with veteran wives. she asked a lot of questions about being a military spouse and said she was looking forward to starting service programs for military families.
6. Will and Kate helped to create 1,000 care packages for the sons and daughters of soon-to-be-deployed servicemen and women.
7. There seemed to be a lot of promise for the job-seeking veterans. Officer Julian Canales of the Los Angeles Police Department said veterans, in particular, are a perfect fit for his line of work. “Military personnel have the easiest time fitting into a paramilitary organization; they understand rank structure, how to take orders and work different hours and shifts,” he said.
8. Will and Kate were very hands-on, making crafts with children from the Inner-City Arts campus, Will pictured here creating a giant tortoise. Inner-City Arts provides arts education to help children achieve academic and personal outcomes, especially those in poverty.
And it turns out, the Duchess of Cambridge can paint quite the red snail.
9. Will and Kate attended a private reception for the launch of the US Patrons Circle of Tusk, the African wildlife conservation charity, of which Will has been a patron since 2006.
10. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and J. Lo all in the same photo (sorry, just had to do it). At the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) “Brits to Watch” event. Prince William is the president of BAFTA, which promotes and honors excellence in television, film, and Internet and multimedia technologies.
Remember: you can make like Will and Kate and support Mission Serve’s efforts and text MISSION to 85944 to make a $10 donation. Brilliant.
