Prince William visited the Freedom School in Tallinn, Estonia today, which was set up after war in Ukraine broke out, and there he met with teachers and students from the war-torn country
Prince William given bracelet on visit to Freedom School in Estonia
Prince William was given a poignant gift from Ukrainian students on his trip to Estonia – but admitted Princess Charlotte would “probably poach it”. On his first day of a two-day visit to the Baltic state, William paid a visit to the Freedom School, which was set up for teachers and students of Ukraine, who had fled the war.
At the school, he chatted to teachers about how they and their students had settled into life in Tallinn and joined youngsters playing basketball. He also took part in a Ukrainian language lesson where he was presented with a poignant gift.
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Several girls gave him a woven friendship bracelet in yellow and blue – the colours of the Ukrainian flag. Accepting the gift, he allowed one young girl to fix the bracelet around his wrist. He told them: “That’s brilliant, my daughter will try and probably poach it off me later. She loves these friendship bracelets. Thank you very much, I like the Ukrainian colours. Thank you, that’s very kind.”
Charlotte is known to be a fan of bracelets, popular with Taylor Swift fans and William wore a purple one made by her last year during his trip to South Africa for his Earthshot Prize.
Meanwhile, William also sympathised with the Ukrainian students about their plight of having to leave their war-ravaged country saying: “It’s been a very difficult few years for you guys. Everyone sees that. What I love is (that) the Ukrainian resilience is everywhere.
“You all are very smiley and very strong and very spiritual people. And honestly, that comes across everywhere. Even the Ukrainians I’ve met in the UK are like that – very resilient and very strong about things. You have a very good spirit, very good soul, it’s very important. Even if your language is very hard to learn. I need to take some of these big words with me to look at, learn my languages better.”
His visit to the school came after he heard the pleas of Estonia’s president for some UK troops to remain in the Baltic state after the statesman suggested they may be redeployed as peacekeepers in Ukraine. William has flown to Estonia to meet those UK forces at Tapa Army Base providing a deterrent against potential Russian aggression towards the country on Nato’s eastern flank with President Vladimir Putin ’s regime.
He sat down for talks with President Alar Karis at the start of a two-day visit to the country where the UK’s largest permanent overseas deployment of around 900 service personnel are based. The prince’s trip is being made predominately in his role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Mercian Regiment, and on Friday he will meet soldiers from his regiment taking over Nato defence duties in Estonia from The Royal Dragoon Guards.
A Kensington Palace spokesperson said: “This will be an important meeting for the prince to highlight the strong bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and Estonia. The meeting also allows His Royal Highness the opportunity to applaud Estonia’s strong support for Ukraine since the conflict with Russia. It is also yet another example of the Prince of Wales representing the United Kingdom at the highest level on the global stage.”
The visit comes as Europe’s major nations including the UK prepare to step up spending on their armed forces in response to the changing world order ushered in by US President Donald Trump. Russia is seen as a growing threat in the region following its three-year-long invasion of Ukraine, and the Baltic states – Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – which border Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nation appear increasingly concerned.