Prince William surprises customers by selling pasties to stunned shoppers in Cornwall

The Prince of Wales has travelled to the south of England to celebrate the national day of Cornwall, where he took an order at a local bakery over the phone, laughing as he mixed up the customer’s name

Prince William has travelled to Cornwall to mark St Piran’s Day – the national day of Cornwall – where he is celebrating the region’s identity and culture, while heaping praise on the community services who were instrumental in supporting locals through the recent Storm Goretti.

The Prince of Wales, who is known as the Duke of Cornwall when in the region, kicked off his trip with a visit to Gear Farm Pasty Co, where he met the Webb family to learn about their iconic pasty making. William was welcomed by the Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, Col Sir Edward Bolitho, before joining staff at the pasty company for morning tea, as he tucked into a Cornish cream tea with scones.

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William then spoke with local residents, including a Ukrainian refugee who works on the farm and their family, who kept their community going despite long outages and blocked rural roads during Storm Goretti, which hit the region in early January. The prince heard stories of how neighbours supported isolated residents, and planted a tree in their new woodland to commemorate the visit.

During his tour of the bakery, the Prince observed pasty production firsthand and had the opportunity to try his hand at making the Cornish delicacy alongside staff members as he perfected iconic pastry crimping technique. As the prince spooned potato into the pasties in the bakery, he joked: “Don’t worry, I can take full criticism.” William was then shown how to crimp a pasty by Miss Webb, who runs the bakery.

As he folded over the pastry, he said: “Oh my goodness, there’s a lot more going into this than I thought. I feel I may be taking this one home guys. Everyone loves a trier.” The prince went on: “I appreciate the comments but this is not my finest hour. This is where I need my wife, she would be all over this.”

Admiring the finished pasty, William joked: “It looks like a slightly ill crab. It’s alright, passable. Yours look so perfect. It’s really not easy, is it? This is something machinery can’t help with. It all has to be handmade.”

Then, William stepped into a spontaneous customer service role as he served people through an order window before taking an order over the phone.

Staff watched on gleefully as William answered the phone and confirmed the shop’s opening hours to a woman named Josie, which William misheard and asked if her name was ‘juicy’. In a quick recovery, William apologised and said: “The pasties are really juicy though!”

Josie Trounson, who lives a 20 minute drive from the farm, didn’t find out it was Prince William who had taken her order until she arrived to collect her pasties, half an hour after the heir to the throne had left to meet fire and rescue staff at Helston community fire station.

“I was flabbergasted when I found out,” Trounson said. “I had no idea who was answering my call but the person on the line was a bit incoherent. It’s St Piran’s Day and I was really worried I wasn’t going to get my pasties.”

Later, William will visit Helston Community Fire Station to thank firefighters and multi‑agency teams who worked around the clock during the devastating storm, and join a discussion on lessons learned and how Cornwall came together in difficult conditions.

Just yesterday, the Prince of Wales undertook a secret outing to join Princess Anne and Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh for a thanksgiving service held at Brecon Cathedral in Wales to honour Dame Shân Legge-Bourke.

Dame Shân maintained close ties with the Royal Family throughout her life, serving as a lady-in-waiting to Princess Anne while her late husband, Captain William Legge-Bourke, worked as an equerry to Queen Elizabeth II. She had a sweet connection to both William and his brother, Prince Harry, as her daughter Tiggy was their childhood nanny.

William’s trip to Cornwall comes just days after the prince was joined by Princess Kate for a joint trip to Wales to mark St David’s Day last Sunday. The Prince and Princess of Wales visited Powys for a string of engagements last week, arriving to cheers from the crowds, many waving Welsh flags and holding daffodils: the country’s national flower.

During a visit to a public contemporary art gallery in Newtown, William was praised for a wholesome interaction with a young royal fan. The girl bashfully presented the prince with a drawing of a daffodil, as William gently thanked her in a low voice, with many royal watchers commenting on how his sweet parenting skills shone through in the wholesome moment.

The royal couple officially marked St David’s Day on Sunday, posting a video to their Instagram with Kate delivering the entire message in Welsh for the first time. William, who delivered last year’s St David’s Day message alone in Welsh, said in the language: “To everyone in Wales, a very Happy St David’s Day!”