Kate And William Celebrate St Patrick's Day

By Joe Tidy, Sky News Reporter

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have kept up a 113-year-old royal tradition and handed out sprigs of shamrock to the Irish Guards for St Patrick's Day.

Prince William, who is the colonel of the Aldershot-based regiment, stood by as the duchess gifted the symbolic Irish plant to officers, guardsmen and even regimental mascot Domhnall the wolfhound.

In keeping with the day, Kate wore an emerald green coat from Hobbs and matching hat by Gina Foster, along with a gold Cartier Irish Guards brooch - a Royal Family heirloom also worn by the Queen Mother.

The shamrock tradition dates back to 1901 - the year after the Irish Guards were formed - when Queen Alexandra, wife to King Edward VII, gave sprigs to the regiment for St Patrick's Day.

Around 300 guardsmen started proceedings this morning with a parade around Aldershot led by Domhnall before filing up to the Mons Barracks to receive the royal couple.

This year, for the first time, the Irish Guards were joined by reserve soldiers from the London Regiment as part of Army 2020, the Ministry of Defence's drive to boost reserves in the Army.

The 1st Battalion Irish Guards were formed in 1900 on the orders of Queen Victoria who wanted to recognise the many courageous acts of Irish soldiers in the Second Boer War.

Today only around 10% are actually Irish, with most soldiers coming from England and some from Commonwealth countries.

However, celebrating St Patrick's Day is still seen as a part of the pride and privilege of the regiment which consists of around 530 guardsmen around the world.

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Gay Ban Stirs Tensions At St Patrick's Parades

A dispute over gay groups being excluded from St Patrick’s Day parades has prompted the New York mayor and other officials to skip the celebrations and Guinness to withdraw its sponsorship.

Bill de Blasio is set to become the first New York mayor in decades to sit out the city's traditional St Patrick's Day parade later today.

Boston's Irish-American Mayor Martin Walsh also opted out of his city's parade at the weekend after talks aimed at allowing a gay group to march broke down.

The decision by Irish brewer Guinness not to participate in New York City's parade cost organisers one of their key sponsors at the annual event.

"Guinness has a strong history of supporting diversity and being an advocate for equality for all," the brewer said in a written statement issued by a spokesman for its parent company, Diageo.

The Chicago River was dyed green to kick off the celebrations

"We were hopeful that the policy of exclusion would be reversed for this year's parade.

"As this has not come to pass, Guinness has withdrawn its participation. We will continue to work with community leaders to ensure that future parades have an inclusionary policy.”

On Friday, two other major beer companies, Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer Co and Heineken, dropped their sponsorship of parades in Boston and New York respectively over the issue.

Still, thousands of green-clad spectators ventured out at the weekend to watch pipers and marchers in cities including Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Enda Kenny on Sunday became the first Irish prime minister to attend Boston's annual St Patrick's Day breakfast.

Some lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups have promised to protest against the New York parade along Fifth Avenue, which every year draws more than a million spectators and about 200,000 participants.

Parade organisers said they did not want the event to turn into a demonstration for a particular group.

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