A royal “no thanks!” Kate Middleton adorably refused her husband Prince William‘s Indian cooking during an entrepreneurial engagement in Mumbai on Monday, April 11, and Us Weekly‘s European bureau chief, Omid Scobie (among the select members of the press with the couple on their tour), was on hand to observe.
The duke, 33, and duchess, 34, kicked off their morning by trying their hands at regional cooking — with the help of a 21st-century innovation — while meeting with local entrepreneurs. The duke was dressed in a navy suit with a polka-dot tie, while Duchess Kate looked lovely in a short-sleeve cream dress by Emilia Wickstead.
Prince William whipped up a crepe-like confection (beloved by millions) known as a dosa, by using a machine invented by a Bangalore-based company’s chief executive, Eshwar Vikas. The young entrepreneur, 24, designed the machine for his company, Mukunda Foods, three years ago, and he was on hand on Monday morning to show the royals how to prepare the DosaMatic machine, which creates pancakes, crepes, dosas and even omelets.
What especially makes this device special is that it has a smartphone app that allows busy users to fire it up first thing in the morning, and have fresh and warm food waiting once they’re awake.
Prince William first took the batter, poured it over the hot plate and waited while it cooked. He then rolled it up into a dosa, took a bite and told Vikas it was good. The dad of Prince George and Princess Charlotte sweetly offered it to his wife, but Duchess Kate (wearing white, after all) waved it away with her hand.
“The duke told me he and the duchess love dosas and he said it was a wonderful machine,” Vikas tells Us Weekly. “He said they would love to have one in their palace and the duchess said that because you can also use it to make pancakes, the whole of London will want one.”
After their cooking session, the couple met the team behind Mahindra Racing, an Indian motor-racing team that competes in high-profile races, including the Formula E championship. A visibly excited Prince William grinned as he got behind the wheel of a car and drove around Delhi’s Buddh International circuit. He ended with a lap time of 2 minutes, 6 seconds.
“It’s a good lap time,” team technician Isaias Sousa Valero tells Us. “He is a really nice driver and he could come and drive for us anytime with a bit more training.”
The pair were also shown a Braille typing machine designed by another local company. Each wore a blindfold and tried to type letters by listening to instructions, spelling out the word “George.”
Finally, the future king and queen launched a program called the Tech Rocketship Awards, where Prince William put his hands together and greeted attendees by declaring, “Namaste, Mumbai!”
“Catherine and I are very impressed by the energy and ideas we have just seen,” he told invited guests. “Being here today, it is clear that India is leading the way in so many areas of innovation and technology. Your ability to innovate is not just good news for India, but it’s great news for the world. With one-sixth of the world’s population, young innovators like you must play a major role.”
They finished their afternoon with a visit to New Delhi, where they stopped by the home of Mahatma Gandhi and met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Stay with Us Weekly for all the latest details from the duke and duchess’ 2016 royal tour in India and Bhutan.
