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Kate and Wills
Boris bike fans: Kate and Wills

On freewheeling off-duty days, Wills and Kate hire Boris bikes

Ross Lydall
19 Oct 2011


They can rely on the Queen's Flight to get them to and from Anglesey, and official cars to take them to royal engagements.

But when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are off duty and in town, it seems they like nothing better than cycling around central London on Boris bikes.

St James's Palace has confirmed that the couple - who received a tandem Boris bike as a wedding present from the Mayor -occasionally use the hire cycles.

They are handy, after all. There's a docking station in St James's Square, round the corner from the office the couple share with Prince Harry in St James's Palace, and another in Kensington Gardens, near their Kensington Palace home.

A palace spokesman said: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge occasionally use the London cycle scheme bicycles to undertake private journeys around London."

Rumours of the bikes gaining the royal seal of approval were first spread by Mr Johnson last week. He told LBC radio: "I don't know this for certain, but I was told that members of the royal family do use them. I was told that Wills and Kate use them but that may be completely inaccurate."

It is not known whether the duke and duchess, both 29, are among the 142,000 subscribers to the scheme, or whether they swipe the royal credit card each time they want to release a bike. Nor is the whereabouts of their tandem known. Neither the Mayor nor royal aides were able to say with certainty what has become of it.

Eight million journeys have been made on the bikes, which were introduced in July last year. Despite ongoing teething problems, Transport for London maintains that the scheme is fit for a future king.

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This is just PR nonsense from the BoJo's office, has he mentioned the vast amount of money the bike scheme is losing? No?

- Stu Pid, London, 20/10/2011 11:40
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Healthy young people ride bikes - surprise, surprise.

- JohnS, SW8, 19/10/2011 17:56
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