Crowd gets brief glimpse of Prince William and Princess Catherine in Somerville after hours waiting
SOMERVILLE – People in Somerville waited hours Thursday morning for a brief glimpse of the Prince and Princess of Wales during their visit to Greentown Labs.
Greentown Labs is home to more than 200 climate tech startups working on solutions for some of the biggest climate challenges. Prince William and Catherine, the Princess of Wales met with a handful of them on Thursday.
"So excited, so honored by this opportunity. Such a privilege to welcome them while they're in town," senior vice president of marketing and communications Julie Travaglini said. "I hope they're excited and impressed and encouraged by the amazing work happening here among our entrepreneurs to deploy climate tech solutions. I hope they leave feeling really encouraged by the work the City of Boston, the region here, all of the northeast is doing to act on climate and drive progress forward to a decarbonized society."
Outside of the lab, people began gathering hours ahead of the visit. One boy dressed up as a member of the The King's Guard got the royal couple's attention and was able to present them flowers and speak to them for several minutes.
Teresa Camara lives just around the corner from Greentown Labs. She said she called for permission to be late for work so she could be there for the royal arrival.
"It's wild. I live right around the corner and I had to just walk right over," she said. "I called my boss last minute and was like 'Please can I have the morning off?' And she kindly approved it. A very unique opportunity. I think that's why being so last minute, and coming in late it's OK. You're never going to get these opportunities again to be part of something like this. You seize it when you can."
Julie DeVito came from Nantucket for the opportunity to be near William and Catherine.
"It's fun to just be here," she said.
The prince and princess stayed in Somerville for about an hour before moving on to the non-profit Roca in Chelsea.
