Kate Middleton is given liqueur containing gold flakes — as thousands battled to glimpse her in Poland
The Royal couple are going down a storm with the locals as they visit Poland
THOUSANDS of flag waving fans packed the market square in Gdansk, northern Poland, today to welcome Kate and Wills.
Adorning locals were out in force desperate to catch a glimpse of the Duke and Duchess on their tour of the county.
The royal pair sampled local delicacies including Goldwasser, a traditional liqueur with flakes of gold, and pierogi dumplings.
After downing a shot, William said: “It is very good, very sweet.”
Kate, recovering from necking the 40 per cent liquid, said: “And very strong.”
They also tried polish dumplings – Kate picked a salmon and mushroom one.
Kate, 35, and William are on the second day of their tour of Poland and, after an emotional visit to a concentration camp this morning.
Kate and Wills are on a five-day trip to Poland and Germany and travelled through the gates of the former Stutthof camp to learn about the atrocities committed by Hitler’s army.
They also met survivors, including two who settled in North London after the war. Manfred Goldberg and Zigi Shipper are now both 87. They met in the camp aged 14.
Proud Manfred said after William spoke to him: “I didn’t dream I would ever have the privilege of shaking the hand of a future king.”
The Nazi camp was built in what is now Poland by Hitler’s forces, which occupied the area at the time.
As many as 65,000 people – including 28,000 members of the Jewish community – died before it was liberated by the Allies in May 1945 as World War Two drew to a close.
Stutthof is now run as a museum and the Duke and Duchess met senior staff from the institution before being taken to a barracks.
While there they were shown discarded shoes from Holocaust victims, reminding visitors of the atrocity’s scale.
As they walked on to the main complex, before them were the remains of the camp with some huts left intact.
The wooden buildings featured pictures of inmates and some of their personal possessions including combs and children’s dolls.
Stutthof concentration camp
Built in a secluded woodland area of Poland by Nazi Germany soldiers following their invasion of the country in 1939, Stutthof was one of many death camps which witnessed the horror of the Holocaust.
As many as 110,00 prisoners were held there during its time. It was initially used as a prison, but quickly transformed into a death camp.
It is thought that at least 28,000 members of the Jewish community died there.
The camp was not an extermination site like Auschwitz-Birkenau, although it did have a small gas chamber used to murder prisoners considered too sick to work.
Tens of thousands of Jews died mainly from disease, malnutrition, physical exhaustion, exposure to the harsh climate and abuse from guards.
Stutthof was the final camp to be liberated by the Allies in 1945.
Stutthof was created as a prison camp at the start of the war.
It later became a concentration camp in 1942.
Prince Charles fears the ‘horrific lessons’ of the Holocaust are in ‘danger of being forgotten’
Earlier this year Prince Charles warned that the world is in danger of “forgetting the lessons of the past”.
The Prince of Wales was speaking at a fundraising event for the World Jewish Relief charity, which is working with people fleeing Syria in search of safety in Greece, Turkey and the UK.
He recalled the “indescribable persecution” suffered by Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott, who went on to become captain of Britain’s weightlifting team at the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games.
The prince said: “When I arrived here this evening, I had the great pleasure of speaking to Ben Helfgott.
“Ben, as you might know, survived the horrors of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.
“To meet Ben, and others who, like him, have endured indescribable persecution, is to be reminded of the danger of forgetting the lessons of the past.”