Prince William and Kate arrive in New York for three-day US visit

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in New York City, at the start of a three-day US east coast visit.

The royal couple – and a seven-strong entourage which includes adviser and former ambassador to the US Sir David Manning and the Duchess of Cambridge’s hairdresser, Amanda Cook Tucker, whose services, it has been stressed, are being paid for privately – touched down at JFK International airport on Sunday evening.

The plane was 40 minutes late, but the couple were nonetheless escorted by motorcade through New York’s infamously bad airport-to-city traffic and to the Carlyle hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The hotel, renowned for its old-fashioned opulence and glamorous clientele – it hosts Woody Allen’s Monday night Dixieland jazz residency – was one of Princess Diana’s favourite places to stay.

Crowds of expectant New Yorkers and tourists were kept well away as the motorcade swept in. William and Kate, who are travelling without their 16-month-old son, Prince George, were reported to be due to spend Sunday evening at a private dinner hosted by Sir Martin Sorrell, a British media and marketing mogul.

Wearing a maroon coat from maternity label Seraphine, the Duchess, who is five months pregnant with her second child, looked refreshed despite her long flight. She and her husband were taken to their room – a suite with stunning views of Central Park. The hotel flew the union flag; the Empire State Building was lit up red, white and blue.

The whirlwind trip is packed with diplomatic engagements as well as commitments championing the couple’s favorite causes and promoting British interests. The schedule includes a visit to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum and a NBA basketball game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

William, the second-in-line to the throne, will visit Washington DC on Monday to attend a conference at the World Bank Group’s international corruption hunters alliance, where he is expected to deliver a speech about fighting illegal wildlife trafficking, an issue described as “close to the prince’s heart”. While there, William will be received by President Barack Obama at the White House. He last met Obama in 2011, when the first couple visited Britain. The prince is due to meet separately with the vice-president, Joe Biden, and his wife, Dr Jill Biden.

While William is in Washington DC, Kate will tour a child development center in Harlem with New York City’s first lady, Chirlane McCray. The Duchess will help wrap presents and meet the young children during an arts-and-crafts session.

William and Kate will reunite in New York on Monday evening, to attend a reception with former secretary of state and rumored 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton. The event will highlight wildlife conservation efforts, a theme of their visit.   

The couple’s final day in New York will begin with a tour of the Ground Zero site. The couple will pause at the reflecting pools to pay their respects to the thousands who lost their lives in the attacks of 11 September 2001.

The duke will spend part of the afternoon with the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, at a reception at the Empire State Building before, on Tuesday evening, joining the duchess at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a black tie fundraiser in honor the University of St Andrews, where the couple met. Expected guests at the event, which will be staged around the ancient Egyptian Temple of Dendur, include Tom Hanks and opera singer Renée Fleming. Tickets for the event went up to $10,000 per seat.   Read More at Guardian