Kate Middletonis getting some expert baking tips!
The Princess of Wales received a mini-tutorial in cake making when she andPrince WilliamjoinedGreat British Baking ShowfinalistAlice Fevroniaat a recent party to mark the 75th birthday of the U.K.s publicly-funded National Health Service (NHS).
Kate also added the topper to the main cake — and had lots of questions about Fevronia’s expert skills in creating the NHS-themed party piece.
Prince William and Catherine Princess of Wales and Alice Fevronia.Tom Dymond/REX Shutterstock
Tom Dymond/REX Shutterstock
“The princess was actually asking a lot of baking tips like ‘How did you get the buttercream so smooth?' " Fevronia — who was in the 2019 series of the hit baking show — tells PEOPLE.
“She mentioned that she’d been up quite late on a couple of occasions trying to decorate the kids' birthday cakes,” she adds.
Princess Kate also wanted to know “about how to get the sides of the cake straight and smooth,” says Fevronia. “I used to be a teacher, so I went into teacher mode. I was like, ‘Right, this is what you need to do.’ "
“That was quite cool that I got to sort of give her some tips!” she tells PEOPLE.
“The prince’s piping skills were less good than the princess’s, shall we say,” she adds about William’s own attempts at cake decorating.
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“They were just really fun,” Fevronia continues about the royal couple. “They were just having a fun time.”
Prince and Princess of Wales surprise NHS staff and patients with 75th anniversary party.Tom Dymond/REX Shutterstock
Fevronia’s celebratory cake was decorated in the blue and white colors of the NHS and included mini-doctors' clipboards illustrated with important dates, including the day William’s late momPrincess Dianaopened the first AIDS ward in the NHS.
The Baking Show alum has many family members who have worked in the NHS and her partner is a pediatric doctor, working long stressful hours.
“[The royal couple] were asking. How does he decompress and how does he relax? And I think it’s making sure that there’s people to talk to because it’s such a busy job,” she tells PEOPLE.
Princess Kate at the 75th anniversary party.Tom Dymond/REX Shutterstock
NHS Charities Together provides mental health support to NHS employees and the party for staffers and former patients was held in the wellbeing garden of a London hospital. While the NHS provides free care at the point of need, there has always been some reliance on locally based charities to help fill gaps in the system and give further support to hospitals and medical centers.
Alice Fevronia with her cake.Tom Dymond/REX Shutterstock
Baker Fevronia adds, “It was such a lovely day. Sun was shining. It was just, it was, the atmosphere was lovely. There were so many amazing people from the NHS there and so many different, so many different jobs or had so many different connections to the NHS.”
The decorated cupcakes.Tom Dymond/REX Shutterstock
source: people.com
