Princess Diana would have been proud of him. As Prince William gently stroked the heads of three-week-old twins Sina and Sem in a new baby ward of the famous St Mary's Hospital where he was born 24 years ago, her eldest son looked every inch the caring young royal.

The Prince chatted quietly with the babies' mother, Banata, before gently picking up tiny Sina who, with her brother Sem, was born eight weeks' premature. Finally, the Prince turned and gave a wide smile to the waiting cameramen. Soon photographs of that touching scene were emblazoned over newspapers, glossy magazines and on TV screens across the world.

To any casual observer, the pictures portrayed an idyll of new parenthood: a delighted mother with her two, much-wanted babies who would soon go home and start a happy, normal childhood in Britain. Yet this was far from the truth. The pictures might well have been captioned 'the prince and the paupers'.

For in a sad symbol of modern-day Britain, Banata is a homeless and penniless single mother from a faraway African land, surviving in Britain on state benefits. The 30-year-old lives in a council hostel for the destitute and it is here in an ill-furnished single room — unless the authorities find her a flat, which she believes is her right — that she will care for the twins when they leave hospital in a week's time.

On the babies' birth certificates, the former waitress names no father. She refuses to say who he is, and, indeed, she may not even know. 'I hope that one day there will be someone for me and the twins, but there is no one right now,' she told me at the hostel in Bayswater where she lives.

'When I fell pregnant I lost my job because I couldn't wait at tables and carry things when I was expecting two babies. 'I was also asked to leave the room I rented from my half-sister in Marylebone because there was not enough space for me and the twins. I had to turn to Westminster Council for help or else I would have been living on the streets. Now I have nothing apart from my babies.' The story of Banata Nuru is a disturbing one. Not least because similar accounts can be found throughout Britain. In Westminster she is one of 5,000 homeless people who apply every year for £34 million of housing help from the city council which is struggling to cope with a rising influx of foreign migrants from almost every nation on Earth.

Like Banata, they often come from countries with no discernible cultural or historical links to the United Kingdom, attracted by the universality of the English language, the multi-culture of London, and, controversially, a benefits system, welfare state and National Health Service that can be accessed by anyone from anywhere.

Banata's story is in many ways typical. She left her home country of Eritrea in 2002 to try to find a better life than the one offered in the beautiful but poverty-ridden city of Asmara, where the average wage is £3 a week. There she lived with her father, a low-paid construction worker, her housewife mother, and two brothers.

SHE was 25 when she travelled to Holland and tried to find work. But she says she found the Dutch language difficult to learn and, therefore, employment hard to come by. Instead, she decided to travel across the Channel to Britain.

'I stayed for a year in Holland but because I learned English at school I thought I would try to get to London. I did not claim asylum because my country is now peaceful. Neither did I plan to live off benefits. I found work as a waitress at the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone.

'It was hard trying to get enough money to pay the rent, to buy food and just to live here. For three years I put in long hours all the time. But I wanted to improve things for myself,' she explains.

It is difficult not to believe this new mother when she explains her motives for coming here in the first place. But her story is impossible to verify. Although she won't talk about it, it is very possible she entered this country as an illegal immigrant and she refuses to say if she got some kind of visa to work here.

What is certain, is that she and her new babies are now costing the state thousands of pounds a year to keep. Since falling pregnant and losing her job, Banata has been eligible for £240 a week in housing benefits which are being paid directly to the hostel by her local council of Westminster.

In addition, she receives £100 a week in income support. Her children will be given £250 each in a one-off payment from the government's trust fund for newborn babies. She can also apply for nearly £40 a week in child benefits for the twins until they reach 18.

What largesse! Would any other country in the world be so generous to a foreign girl and her children? No wonder Banata tells me that she never wants to go back to Eritrea. And why should she when she receives nearly £20,000 a year in welfare benefits? Even this is nowhere near the full tally.

Since her babies were born on August 30, just after midnight by Caesarean section, they have needed all the expert nursing care that the National Health Service is so good at providing.

The cost of looking after such premature babies in a neo-natal intensive care ward, such as the newly-furbished Winnicott Unit opened by Prince William last week, is nearly £1,000 a day each, according to recent Department of Health official figures. And this is a conservative estimate because of the rising cost of medicines and nurses' overtime.

As for Banata herself, she stayed at St Mary's for a week after the babies were born and received a battery of complex and expensive tests during her pregnancy.

The bill for her? A further £2,000 for the Caesarean birth, her nursing and ante-natal care.

Yet at St Mary's few questions will have been asked about whether Banata was eligible for treatment. She is one of hundreds of foreign women who arrive at the hospital every year to have their babies courtesy of what many nurses and doctors have now cynically named the International Health Service.

Some mothers fly in to the country hours before giving birth and turn up at the hospital, a few yards away from Paddington Station where express trains run from Heathrow airport, with their tickets still tied to their luggage.

The situation has grown so out-of-control that recently the eminent doctor in charge of obstetrics and gynaecology at St Mary's spoke out.

Professor Lesley Regan said that the culture of health tourism — where foreign patients simply arrive and admit themselves with complex complaints without expecting or being asked to pay — was a massive problem in the hospital.

Here, the labour wards are often full of mothers from overseas who, like Banata, have paid little or nothing into the British health system.

'But what can I do? I cannot turn away a woman who needs help. I would never do that. It makes me angry because if I went to Ghana or somewhere I wouldn't even be given a free cup of coffee,' said Professor Regan. She is not alone in her

concerns. One senior nurse at the teaching hospital where Sir Alexander Fleming discovered the life-saving penicillin, told the Mail this week: 'It is hard not to conclude that the name St Mary's is now known throughout the world as a place where mothers can arrive and give birth without being presented with a bill.

'They come straight from the airport. They appear at 38 weeks' pregnant in the casualty department. What can the doctors do? No-one can throw a mother who is about to go into labour back onto the streets.'

This impossible dilemma faced by St Mary's and leading NHS hospitals throughout Britain, has been compounded by a directive from the government which warns doctors and nurses not to turn away pregnant mothers whatever their nationality.

The instruction has infuriated staff who say that it means health tourism — which is costing the NHS at least £200 million a year — will never be stamped out.

So what of Banata herself?

By strict definition she is not a health tourist. But by the time her children are grown up, the price to the state of keeping this little family, if she never returns to work, will have reached nearly half a million pounds.

It is clear that she, and thousands like her, are drawn towards Britain by the generosity of our welfare system which provides a welcome safety net for any foreigner who falls on hard times.

FOR the moment, none of this concerns Banata. Every morning at soon after eight she sets out to walk to St Mary's baby unit where nurses are caring for Sina and Sem. She is taught how to breastfeed the twins every three hours. 'I barely get an hour's rest between feeding them and starting again,' says the plainly exhausted mother.

At night-time, the babies are fed by bottle with Banata's expressed milk by the nurses as their mother returns home to the hostel where she has a ground-floor room with two beds. On the old fashioned mantelpiece are cards from well-wishers and pictures of the twins in their cots. A kettle stands on a table in the corner together with the fledgling family's few possessions.

Says Banata: 'I am worried about bringing the twins back here because I will have to share toilet and washing facilities with men and that is not right for tiny babies.

'I hope that very soon the council will find me a flat where we can all live together and I can make it their first real home. The council has promised me a permanent place in five or six weeks.'

No wonder she has concerns. The hostel, although situated in one of the most prestigious areas of London across the road from Hyde Park, has problems with drug addicts and prostitutes.

As I wait for Banata to come from the hospital, a police car drives up and takes away and interview one resident, a young girl of 20.

Frequently, pimps walk in the door of the hostel to speak to the girls they control as prostitutes. In a doorway nearby, a drug addict can been seen handing over a wad of cash for a small plastic bag of powder from a dealer who arrives in a £75,000 black Mercedes people carrier. It is clearly not a place for newborn babies. Explains Banata: 'I cannot really believe this is happening to me. When, back in the spring, I had a scan and was told I was expecting twins I nearly died. I just could not imagine what was going to happen.

'I immediately informed my manager at the Landmark Hotel and he warned me I would lose my job.'

Although Banata is not religious, she has told her parents back in Eritrea very little of her surprise pregnancy and single motherhood. Is she ashamed? When I ask her, she simply lowers her eyes.

It is no surprise that none of Banata's unorthodox past was heard by Prince William. 'The nurses said that the prince was making a special visit. I had no idea who he was at first.' she admits. 'I thought he was a Dutch prince. Then I remembered Princess Diana. I thought that he must be her son. When he arrived I recognised him because he is so tall and has her looks.

'He came over to look at the twins. He said: "They are sleepy and so sweet." He never asked if they had a father or where I lived. He only wanted to know if I was well and if they were alright, too. I told him that we were doing fine.'

Ironically, the Prince was following in the footsteps of his mother. She was often spied,

hidden under a baseball cap, visiting the same unit before her death. She would secretly run in the staff entrance and up three floors of the Victorian building to talk to the mothers.

Today Banata carries with her a copy of a celebrity magazine with a picture of the prince and her baby daughter, Sena, on the front page. Inside is a photograph of Banata herself and both the twins with the smiling prince.

As she excitedly points to the photographs, this mother, with little more than the clothes she stands up in, says: 'Growing up in Eritrea, I never dreamed I would come to Britain and meet a prince.' Then she adds with certainty: 'I now want to stay in this country for ever.'

William to visit baby unit where Diana gave birth (8)

Prince William is to visit a baby unit at the hospital where he and brother Prince Harry were born, Clarence House said today.

The second in line to the throne will open a refurbished neo-natal intensive care ward at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London.

The 24-year-old will meet staff and patients and tour the Winnicott Baby Unit next week, on September 20.

At the forefront of specialist care for premature babies, it looks after some of the most critically ill newborns in the UK.

It treats more than 300 sick and premature babies from across the country each year.

Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales was born at 9.03pm on June 21, 1982, in the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's, weighing 7lb 1.5oz.

He made his public debut with his parents outside the hospital, wrapped in a white blanket carried in the arms of his mother Diana, with the Prince of Wales at their side.

Harry was born in the same exclusive wing just over two years later.

Diana returned to St Mary's herself in April 1997, four months before her death in a Paris car crash.

She toured the paediatric intensive care unit, meeting poorly youngsters.

Winnicott is renowned for pioneering a gentle care approach and its Newborn Individualised Developmental Care and Assessment Programme, which helps to speed up growth and reduces developmental problems for premature babies.

William is currently training to be an Army officer at Sandhurst.

A Clarence House spokesman said: "William was asked by the hospital if he would open the unit and as it does such fantastic work he was only too pleased to accept.

"He has a free afternoon from training so he is able to be there."

London - Britain's Prince William headed back to his barracks on Sunday to begin the final term of his training to become an army officer.

William, 24, has been holidaying on the Spanish party island of Ibiza with his girlfriend Kate Middleton, also 24.

He will have to decide which army regiment to join once he finishes at the elite Sandhurst academy in December, and is widely tipped to choose the Welsh Guards.

Like his younger brother Prince Harry, 21, who graduated from Sandhurst in April, William will be pelted with potatoes as part of his third-term training.

The odd-sounding exercise is to prepare the officer cadets for tackling riots. Fellow recruits pretend to be an unruly mob and pepper their colleagues with the vegetable missiles.

London, England (BANG) - Nothing comes easy - not even for Britain's young royal. Britain's Prince William is currently preparing to be pelted with potatoes as a part of his latest army training.

William - who returned to Sandhurst Military Academy on Sunday after enjoying a holiday in Ibiza with his girlfriend Kate Middleton - will take part in the bizarre exercise as part of a ten-day peacekeeping training exercise.

The activity, officially known as Operation Broadsword, is meant to prepare the officer cadets for riot situations.

During the exercise, dubbed "spud-bashing," the soldiers are divided in two teams, one of which pretend to be an unruly mob. They then hurl vegetable "missiles" at their fellow cadets.

William's brother Prince Harry also had to endure the "bashing" which is said to be very painful.

William, 24, is due to graduate from Sandhurst in December, when he will have to decide which army regiment he wants to join. He is rumored to be planning to choose the Welsh Guards, of which Harry is a part of.

By DAMIEN FRANCIS

September 11, 2006

PRINCE Harry spent hours on the phone comforting girlfriend Chelsy Davy after she was robbed at gunpoint.

Chelsy, 20, and other customers at a bar in Cape Town, South Africa, were ordered to lie on the floor while the gang stole cash, credit cards and mobile phones.

Her mobile was stolen and it is feared it contained texts from Harry, 21. A Royal source said Harry was “deeply upset”.

The source added: “He has been doing everything within his means to make sure she is OK.”

Student Chelsy was with a female pal at the trendy Cubana Latino Cafe near her home.

Bar owner Devilliers Nienaber was kicked in the head. He said: “Chelsy and her friend stayed calm. I think it saved our lives. If they had panicked it could have been the end of us.”

Wills and Kate share the look of love (6)

When Prince Charles got engaged to Diana, he was famously unsure whether he was really in love with her, uttering the immortal phrase "whatever love means". Well, THIS is love. Here is Prince William leaving a nightclub with his girlfriend Kate Middleton, and if anyone ever had any doubt as to whether they are truly in love, that should be dispelled forever by these pictures. Kate smiles at William, and it is a smile of the tenderest affection, a look that says she loves him, admires him and yes, still fancies him something rotten. They are going home together at the end of the evening, and the girl could not be happier. Now consider William: for the look he gives Kate, 24, is, if anything, even more revealing. He smiles at her in a way that is touchingly bashful, but filled with love and warmth and a kind of quiet joy that sits just beneath the surface. He does not look like the sort of man to say "whatever love means". So here is a confident prediction: that these pictures of William and Kate leaving Boujis in South Kensington will be sold to newspapers and magazines around the world and will carry on being published for many years to come. But is there anything else we can predict with equal confidence? For the questions about William and Kate are beginning to grow, and people are beginning to wonder when there are going to be some answers. Chiefly, the questions are: What next? And when? William, 24, is about to return to Sandhurst this weekend for his final stint of Army training. He finishes in January, and after that will join a regiment, possibly the Welsh Guards. But what about William and Kate? They have just enjoyed a holiday in Ibiza together, but as for any more serious signs of commitment - well, it seems that for the moment we will just have to wait. Kate, his girlfriend for nearly three years now, has met the Queen and has even introduced her parents to her. She has been receiving media training from Clarence House. She is, clearly, being groomed for a life in the Firm. As for the "when?" - that, of course, is selfexplanatory. With his family history, William clearly seems like a young man who is determined to take things at his own pace - and Kate does not look too unhappy about it. There is, of course, one question we don’t hear any more. It is the "What?" - but no-one needs to ask that now because the answer is obvious. It’s love, actually.

Prince William's Girlfriend's Fashion Style Praised By People Magazine (5)

September 6, 2006 9:09 a.m. EST

Maira Oliveira - All Headline News Reporter

London, England (BANG) - A special royal's fashion sense has been compared to that of late Princess Diana's. The girlfriend of Britain's Prince William has been hailed the next Princess Di by People magazine. The celebrity magazine has devoted two pages to Kate Middleton, describing her as a style icon on par with William's late mother.

Although the 24-year old has joked to friends that she hardly ever looks in the mirror before she goes out and claims to have never had a manicure in her life, she always manages to look stylish and elegant when she is seen in the public eye.

People describes Kate's look as "part Di and totally dashing" and says that, since she started dating the prince, she has "stepped up her style to royal heights."

The magazine, which has 38 million readers, compares a series of the brunette's outfits to similar ensembles worn by the late princess - who was renowned for her stylish look, and ability to look both fashionable and ladylike for all occasions.

Despite the comparison, Kate's friends insist the university graduate is just being herself.

One friend told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper, "Being called a style icon is the last thing Kate wants - even though she could throw on a sack and look good."

Princes 'deeply betrayed' by Burrell’s new Diana revelations (4)

By GORDON RAYER & REBECCA ENGLISH Last updated at 07:54am on 4th September 2006

Princes William and Harry were left feeling 'deeply betrayed' last night after Princess Diana's former butler made a series of new claims about her love life.

Four years after he first revealed some of Diana's most intimate secrets, Paul Burrell has written a new book which the Royal family see as another ruthless attempt to cash in on Diana's memory.

Burrell began publicising the memoir, titled The Way We Were, just three days after the ninth anniversary of Diana's death.

He has attempted to justify the book by claiming it provides important new information which will kill off theories that Diana was murdered to prevent her marrying her Muslim boyfriend Dodi Fayed.

Burrell says he has solved the 'mystery' of a ring given to Diana by Dodi two days before they both died, which has been interpreted by some as an engagement ring.

In fact, says Burrell, the ring was worn by Diana on her right hand, as a 'friendship ring' and there was no engagement.

But police investigating Diana's death rubbished his talk of 'new evidence' by revealing that Burrell had divulged all of the information to them when he was interviewed two years ago.

And the Daily Mail revealed six months ago that the inquiry had ruled out any possibility that Diana was murdered.

One source close to the inquiry said: 'This information is not new. He said much the same thing when he was interviewed two years ago. This seems to be nothing more than a money-making exercise.'

Burrell, 48, became a multimillionaire through his revelations about Diana in a series of newspaper interviews in 2002 and a book on Diana, titled A Royal Duty, in 2003, which sold more than 500,000 copies.

He went on to make TV series on etiquette in America and Australia, appeared on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, and is about to launch his own Royal Butler collections of crown-embossed glassware and chinaware in America. He promotes himself through his own website and his success has enabled him to buy a second home in Florida.

Clarence House was making no official comment on his new book yesterday, but a source close to Princes William and Harry said: 'The Princes feel very much the same way that they did when Paul Burrell brought out his last book four years ago. There is a sense of deep betrayal and disappointment.'

The fact that the Princes were at one time very close to Burrell, and played with his two sons Alexander and Nick, has only added to their sense of betrayal.

Prince William, who spent yesterday in Ibiza on holiday with his girlfriend Kate Middleton, and Prince Harry, are understood to have been kept abreast of the claims made in Burrell's book.

Whilst there is no doubt of the existence of the £3,000 Bulgari ring, said to have been on Diana's finger when she died on August 31, 1997, Burrell's recollection of what happened to the ring after her death is hotly contested by others who were present.

Burrell, 47, says he was attending to Princess Diana's body together with her driver Colin Tebbutt and a nurse, Beatrice Humbert, at the La Pitie-Salpetriere hospital in Paris when he was given the ring for safekeeping.

'Before we left Nurse Humbert said in broken English: "I think you should take this." Either she or Colin -- and in the daze of that day I still don't remember who it was -- took my hand, pressed something into my palm and closed my fingers around it.'

But yesterday Colin Tebbutt said he had no recollection of a ring being passed to Burrell, and a source at the hospital said nurse Humbert was adamant she had given no jewellery to the butler.

Staff at the hospital had been made aware of a personal demand from the Queen that all jewellery should be safeguarded, and the source said: 'There would have been no possibility of handing something as valuable as this over to Burrell. It just wouldn't have happened.

'When he was allowed in, Burrell acted in a very emotional manner. He began crying and touching the Princess. He was fiddling with Diana's hands as he put a rosary and pictures into her hands. 'Then he sat by the body. He did not want to leave. We almost had to force him to go.'

Police sources have confirmed that the ring was among items of jewellery returned to the Spencer family after Princess Diana's death.

Burrell, who lives near Chester, was arrested in January 2001 following allegations that he had stolen £4.5million worth of property belonging to Diana's estate following her death.

He was cleared amid great controversy at the Old Bailey in October 2002 after the Queen confirmed a meeting with Burrell during which she had asked him to take care of Diana's possessions.

Prince William jets off with Kate to party island Ibiza (3)

Last updated at 23:31pm on 1st September 2006

Surrounded by suntanned beauties, Prince William was soaking up the holiday atmosphere yesterday. Lazing on a luxury yacht with bikini-clad girls, he wore a permanent grin like a cat that got all the cream.

One of the women, of course, was his girlfriend Kate Middleton, looking slim and striking in a stringy white bikini.

The couple, both 24, and some friends took the yacht on a day trip from the party island of Ibiza where they have rented a villa. After basking in the 88F sunshine, the group took turns at diving into the indigo waters of the Mediterranean.

First in was another white bikini girl - thought likely to be Kate's younger sister Pippa - who performed a flawless backwards dive, entering the water with barely a ripple.

Her sister Kate looked less sure of herself, and had to be coaxed to the edge by a mischievous William. She wriggled in vain as he playfully grabbed her waist and spun her round to face the sea. Resigned to her fate - and with possibly the hint of an affectionate shove from William - she timidly stepped into the water like a victim walking the plank.

The ungallant prince, keen to show how it should be done, followed her in with a comic back-flip twist from which he landed with a huge splash. Enjoying himself, he later performed another one from the higher deck of the vessel.

An onlooker said: "William and Kate were on a gin palace of a yacht. They were having a lovely time, just lying in the sun on the prow and chatting.

"Then they all larked about, with William doing a stunt dive into the water. He was clearly enjoying all the frolicking." William wore red shorts and sunglasses for his day on the high seas.

Later, the group visited a spa on the island and indulged in a mud bath. William and Kate are making the most of a precious week together before the prince returns to Sandhurst.

Wearing baseball caps and shorts, they have been doing their utmost to blend into the crowds on Ibiza, which is popular with thousands of British holidaymakers.

The island is famous for its night scene and has a reputation as the world's clubbing capital. Ravers often spend all night drinking and dancing before sleeping off their endeavours on the beach.

A source close to the couple said: "The prince is on a break from military training at Sandhurst and wanted to let his hair down and have some fun.

"There are so many people there partying and so far they haven't been recognised. It is amazing how you can disappear just by wearing a baseball cap, T-shirt and shorts."

Ibiza has a hedonistic mix of clubs offering everything from rock and hip-hop to William's favourite, R&B.

It boast big names on the club scene, such as Space in Paya d'en Bossa, El Divino and Pacha, in Ibiza town, and Bar M in San Antonio, a spin-off of superclub Manumission.

But the island is also infamous for drug use, with an estimated 40,000 ecstasy tablets taken every night in the summer. The main hospital treats more overdoses than anywhere else in the world.

And last month, two British tourists were caught in crossfire between rival drugs gangs in a street gunfight.

For William and Kate, it is their last chance to be carefree together before Officer Cadet Wales, as he is known at Sandhurst, returns for his final term at the gruelling military academy.

In the coming weeks, he will knuckle down to the serious business of choosing an Army regiment to join, and faces the prospect of being sent away on a tour of duty in the New Year.

William and Kate, who have been going out together for four years, have also enjoyed romantic getaways on the Caribbean island of Mustique, the island of Rodrigues 400 miles off Mauritius, and in Kenya.

Yesterday a Clarence House spokesman said: "We would never comment on any of their private holidays."

Kate and Wills take a break from Bang Bang

By Jamie Mcginnes

PRINCE William's girlfriend Kate Middleton keeps her cool as she tops up her tan in the searing Mediterranean sun.

Dressed in a sizzling white bikini, Kate, 24, swigged from a bottle of chilled water yesterday as she and the prince, also 24, joined friends on a boat trip off Ibiza.

Kate and Wills have spent a week on the party island, staying at La Maison de Bang Bang, a luxury private villa in the countryside near Cala Jondal, but have been seen at a number of clubs including the world-famous Pacha.

The couple are due to fly home today with royal heir Wills heading back to Sandhurst military acade my to finish his army training. Wills and Kate, who have been togther for four years, have previously been on holiday in Kenya, the island of Rodrigues, off Mauritius, and Mustique in the Caribbean.

PRINCE WILLIAM BECOMES VICE ROYAL PATRON OF THE WELSH RUGBY UNION (1) "Prince William is to become Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union from February next year. The new post will support the work of Her Majesty The Queen, who continues to be Patron.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is responsible for all levels of the game throughout Wales, from community clubs at the grass roots all the way through to the national team.

David Pickering, Chairman of the WRU said today:

“I am delighted that Prince William has agreed to become our Vice Royal Patron. Rugby truly is our national sport in Wales, and the Prince’s passion for and commitment to the game is well known. I saw his tremendous ambassadorial qualities first hand during the British and Irish Lions tour last summer and during his visit to Cardiff for the FA Cup Final in May. He has particular qualities when it comes to interacting with young people and I am sure he will prove inspirational in his new role within Welsh rugby. We’re all thrilled.”

Prince William will take up his new role at the beginning of the 2007 Six Nations Championship which begins in February next year. This will be the fourth public role which William has taken on, following his appointment as Patron of the homelessness charity Centrepoint, Patron of the conservation charity The Tusk Trust and President of the Football Association.

Prince William said today:

“I am honoured to be able to take on this role as Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union. Rugby is such a central part of Welsh life, and I hope to be able to contribute in some way to the development of the sport both at the community level and on the international stage. I am also looking forward to renewing my friendships with all the Welsh players whom I met on the Lions tour to New Zealand.” "