- Wednesday, March 05, 2025
By: Pramod Thomas
Prince William helped out an Indian restaurant during a royal visit on Thursday (20) by taking a phone reservation from an unsuspecting customer.
The heir to the British throne and his wife Kate were visiting the family-run restaurant Indian Streatery during their trip to Birmingham in central England, when he took the call from someone seeking a booking for two people.
After checking with the owners as to the restaurant’s location, he then had a discussion with the caller about when a table was free and whether they would have time to eat before catching their train.
“What name is it under?” the prince said as he concluded the conversation, without revealing his own name to the caller. “See you at quarter past two.”
William’s office later said on Twitter: “Hope we told this customer to come to the right place…!”
As well as taking the booking, the royals also helped out preparing dishes in the restaurant’s kitchen before continuing their visit in the city with a game of darts at an underground bar.
According to a report in the MailOnline, the customer Vinay Aggarwal and his wife Ankita Gulati said they had ‘no idea’ that William took the call.
“It’s pretty amazing and a surprise. I didn’t know at that moment, but it’s a very nice surprise. Obviously (I will be telling everyone), it’s not something that happens often,” he is reported to have said.
“I didn’t recognise his voice at all, this is the first time I was listening to him on the phone, so I genuinely thought someone was taking the booking for me.”
Restaurant owner Meena Sharma told the MailOnline, “All of us around him were really surprised he actually picked up the phone and actually said ‘this is the Indian Streatery’, and there was a genuine person on the other end wanting to make a booking.
“But I think he probably could have a role as a front of house manager, we could probably employ him to take phone calls in future as he did a really good job.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
