13/03/2026
Prince William and Catherine leaving Tower RNLI on Thursday 12th March 26 where they had spent about 40mins from 2pm to 2.40pm hearing about the vital work of the RNLI staff and volunteers saving lives on the River Thames. Their visit comes as the RNLI celebrates the 25th anniversary of the RNLI Lifeguards. They Tower Lifeboat RNLI Station to a small group of Royal fans and waiting press & photographers. Some fans including myself gave flowers to William & Catherine. I was very lucky that William took my flowers which were purple tulips. I then had a selfie with Prince William and then with Princess Catherine. Near to where I stood was Royal Super-Fan, John Loughrey who has followed the Royal Family for many years and William and Catherine know him by his name. He is quite well known with the Royals and press and he was there too greet them and give them flowers.
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the charity that saves lives at sea and along the River Thames, with 238 lifeboat stations across the UK and Ireland, and beach lifeguards providing seasonal patrols on over 240 beaches. There are four RNLI stations which run along the course of the Thames between Teddington and Gravesend.
The Thames stations are crewed by a combination of staff and volunteers who work 12-hour shifts to save lives along the river.
RNLI Tower's new station, opened in 2023 and based in the heart of London, is RNLI's busiest lifeboat station. The crew are on the station 24/7, 365 days a year- ready to respond to any incident immediately. So far this year, the crew at Tower have been called out 45 times.
Prince William and Catherine are visiting to meet and thank the crew and volunteers for their work across the challenging winter period. Prince William visited RNLI Tower Station's former premises in 2016 and has previously visited RNLI Lifeguards in Cornwall and RNLI Lifeboat in Anglesey. 👑💕👑
