Alison Hammond has shared how she feared having to do a 'walk of shame' after she was initially turned away from a planned meeting with the Prince and Princess of Wales. The This Morning host left her fans and followers in a state of shock as she shared her latest selfie on Instagram - with the royal couple.
The presenter couldn't have looked happier, and neither could the royal couple, as they got up close to pose for the camera in her home city of Birmingham on Thursday (April 20). The royals both chatted with TV presenter Alison during the visit to The Rectory bar's 180 Club, which has four interactive darts booths that have now been tried at tested by royalty.
It came as William and Kate visited the West Midlands as part of a wider tour of the country ahead of the King's coronation next month. Following her surreal day, Alison was back on This Morning on Friday (April 21) and shared all the details with her co-host Dermot O'Leary and viewers.
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The 48-year-old explained how she was asked last minute to be a part of the visit which Dermot explained wast 'to celebrate Birmingham’s diverse culture and heritage and to meet leaders of creative industries' before Alison recounted: “So I was with some film producers and writers, they were the crème de la crème of Birmingham, they were amazing.
"We were waiting and Kate takes one side of the room and then William takes the other side of the room and talked to them, so we were going to talk to Kate. So then Kate came over and straight away, made a beeline for me so I was like ‘yes, I’m in there!’. She was smiling, she looked amazing. She had a beautiful red dress on, it was absolutely lovely."
Looking at a candid photo that had been taken of her and the Princess of Wales, Alison said: "I mean it looks like I’m just laughing randomly there but she’s talking to all of us and having a conversation, we were talking about cocktails. She was saying that she likes spicy cocktails, she doesn’t like the sweet cocktails or anything like that."
Dermot asked Alison if the Princess of Wales "likes Baileys, like you2, to which Alison responded: "We didn’t talk about Baileys, it was all about cocktails, so she likes a spicy cocktail. She likes spicy food… So I invited her over to my house, I said ‘next time you’re in Birmingham, come over to my house. I’ll cook for you.'"
Dermot agreed: "To be fair, she’d get a good dinner at your house!”" Alison then continued: "She'd get a lovely dinner, she was like 'I’ll definitely come' and I was like ‘really?!' I was like 'this is the best day ever.'"
Then, describing a sequence of events that led to her holding the heir to the throne's hand, Alison shared: "So [Kate] goes downstairs to play darts, because this pub has darts, and then the Kensington Palace people said ‘well you’re going to lead William downstairs into the darts’ and I was like ‘you want me to lead him down?!’, so I led him down the stairs, I’m holding his hand…”
Looking at a clip of them playing darts, she said: "This is us playing darts and basically, I led him downstairs and then on the way down the stairs, I remembered that I hadn’t done 'Your Royal Highness' or bowed, so then I bowed awkwardly on the stairs, holding his hand.”
Joking, Dermot asked: "Did you turn to him and say 'Babs I forgot I haven’t bowed to you!'" Alison laughed and admitted: "No, I didn’t say babs. I was a bit more… I just turned round to him... I was holding his hand and I was like ‘I’ve forgotten to say 'Your Royal Highness'’ and then he started giggling as we were going down the stairs. Then we played darts, someone had put ‘HRH’ and Will said ‘that’s you Alison!’... so I played as HRH."
Alison revealed: “We were talking about Aston Villa, we were talking about who do the kids support and then I asked him again, ‘do you want to come to my house for dinner?’ and he asked ‘well what would you cook for me Alison?’ and I was like ‘well I’d actually cook you some curried goat, some rice, some banana bread’ and he was like ‘yeah, I’m definitely coming!’.
"And then when we went upstairs to take a photo, because I said ‘I want to take a selfie’. [Will] was there talking to Kate saying ‘Kate, Alison supports Aston Villa! She’s my best friend and she’s asked us to go for dinner’ and then she goes ‘yes I know, she’s already asked me to go for dinner!'"
But it may not have happened as Alison had earlier shared how when she arrived, she was told her name 'wasn't on the list'. She asked those there to check and when they still couldn't find her name, she took some pictures with her fellow Brummies. It turns out, Alison was on a 'VIP list' and all was well.
"Was there a moment where you thought you were going to have to do a walk of shame?" Dermot asked his co-star to which she said: "Oh I thought I was definitely going to do the walk of shame!"
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