Kate and William.

Kate and William.Getty images

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been out and about and getting their Royal tour of the UK started

Kate and William have kicked off their nationwide festive train tour of the UK. The primary focus of the tour is to meet and thank frontline workers, care home staff and teachers for their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. The last year has been exceptionally difficult for all frontline workers, so the Cambridges wanted to honor them.

The royals are traveling 1,250 miles across England, Scotland, and Wales on board the Royal Train as part of their three-day trip. 

The pair arrived at the Scottish capital over the sweet sounds of some Christmas songs playing as they greeted staff who had gathered to meet them.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s first engagement as part of their working visits across the UK will be to the Scottish Ambulance Service in Newbridge, Edinburgh.

The Scottish Ambulance Service is the frontline of the NHS in Scotland and employs over 5000 highly-skilled members of staff who are committed to helping patients and saving lives.

Kate and William will be visiting several locations in the UK on their trip. A palace spokesperson said ''The Duke and Duchess are very much looking forward to shining a spotlight on the incredible work that has been done across the country throughout this difficult year.''

While it is clear Kate and William are acting with the best of intentions in mind, their decision to travel around the country despite coronavirus restrictions has been met with some pushback.

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish First Minister, had this to say ''The Scottish government was advised about the intention to visit, and we made sure that the royal household were aware, as you would expect, of the restrictions in place in Scotland so that could inform both the decision and the planning of the visit. Any more questions on that should be directed to the royal household.”

Clearly, she was less than impressed.

As well as this, the Welsh health minister, Vaughan Gething said ''I’d rather that no one was having unnecessary visits and people always have divisive views about the monarchy, but their visit isn’t an excuse for people to say that they are confused about what they are being asked to do.”

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