Prince William and Kate Middleton flip in Northern Ireland visit

(CBS/AP) -- Kate Middleton showed off her pancake-flipping skills during an unannounced visit to Northern Ireland with fiance, Prince William, Tuesday.

The royal couple traveled to Belfast for a one-day tour, delighting a surprised but enthusiastic crowd with their first official visit to the region before their April 29 wedding.

Pictures: William and Kate in Northern IrelandPictures: Kate Middleton
Pictures: Prince William and Kate Middleton
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Police kept watch from the rooftops for a visit that brought the center of Belfast to a standstill. Up to 100 people gathered in the bright sunshine near city hall to greet the couple, but the crowd swelled to several hundred as nearby shoppers realized something special was happening.

It was the couple's third public outing in recent weeks, completing a circuit that has taken them to all parts of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Last month, the couple traveled to Wales for a lifeboat-naming ceremony and to Scotland, where they launched the 600th Anniversary Appeal at the University of St. Andrews.

Pictures: Royal couple's first official outingPictures: William and Kate visit St. Andrews

As they arrived at George Best City Airport, they were welcomed by Lord Mayor Pat Convery and Dame Mary Peters, gold medalist in the pentathlon in the 1972 Olympics and now Lord Lieutenant of Belfast.

Outside city hall, William and Middleton met representatives from the Women from the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for Children and were cheered on as they took turns flipping a pancake, the traditional treat eaten on Shrove Tuesday, the day before the Christian season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday.

Middleton, smiling broadly as she greeted people hoping for a handshake, wore a Burberry double-breasted cream-colored belted coat with a ruffle hem, black opaque tights and black high-heeled shoes. William wore a navy suit.