![Helping out volunteer Mary Dawkins (r.), Kate Middleton cut and...]()
Doug Mills/The New York TimesThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit to the National September 11 Memorial Museum: Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, walk next to Ladder 3 fire truck during a tour of the National September 11 Memorial Museum, in New York, NY, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014. The royal couple are on an official two-day visit to New York.![Action! The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had front row...]()
Samir Hussein/WireImageHillary Clinton could not contain her excitement as she greeted Kate Middleton at a conservation reception at British Consul General's Residence on December 8, 2014 in New York City, while Chelsea Clinton greeted Prince William.![Kate and Will braved the rain to pay their respects...]()
Richard Drew/APKate, Duchess of Cambridge, and Britain's Prince William, do a virtual signing of the South Tower Column, during their visit to the National September 11 Museum, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014.![Showing off her growing baby bump under her coat, Kate...]()
Butterworth/Splash NewsStaying in the New York hotel that the late Princess Diana favored, Kate Middleton and Prince William arrived to the Big Apple with a warm welcome from the Carlyle Hotel with the British flag hung next to the American flag.Corky Siemaszko and Edgar Sandoval
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:The future King of England and his bride laid flowers Tuesday at the crucible of New York City’s pain.
Braving bitter wind and driving rain, Prince William and Kate walked across the memorial plaza at the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum to the reflecting pools built in the footprints of the fallen Twin Towers.
There, huddled beneath black umbrellas, they paid their respects to the more than 2,700 people killed in the terror attacks.
Sixty-seven of the victims were British citizens, the most from any country outside the U.S.
In a note with the flowers, they wrote:
“In sorrowful memory of those who died on 11th September and in admiration of the courage shown to rebuild.
William and Catherine.”
It was the most somber moment of the comely couple’s three-day trip to New York City and there were only a handful of onlookers around to witness the tender moment.
“I love them so much,” Kristina Crossan, a 24-year-old teacher from Edison, N.J., said as she watched.
![The note left at the 9/11 Museum by the Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, that reads: 'In sorrowful memory of those who died on 11th September and in admiration of the courage shown to rebuild. William and Catherine.']( "The note left at the 9/11 Museum by the Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, that reads: 'In sorrowful memory of those who died on 11th September and in admiration of the courage shown to rebuild. William and Catherine.'")
The note left at the 9/11 Museum by the Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, that reads: ‘In sorrowful memory of those who died on 11th September and in admiration of the courage shown to rebuild. William and Catherine.’ Then they were escorted by memorial president Joe Daniels to a panel for the victims of Flight 93, which crashed in a Pennsylvania field after the passengers rose up against the hijackers.
While they spoke, Kate — dressed in a pink Mulberry coat over a Seraphine dress and black stiletto-heeled pumps — ran a hand over the names of the victims chiseled into the panel.
Daniels then took them for a 20-minute tour of the underground museum at the site, including the “In Memoriam” exhibition which has profiles of the victims — and where visitors can leave a message with a stylus on an electronic tablet.
The royals just left their names, writing “Catherine” and “William” in script.
Kate “talked about how in awe she was of the enormity of the space,” Allison Blair, chief of staff at the museum, said. “It was something she didn’t anticipate.”
From there, William and Kate met with a group of young people who participate in programs run by The City Kids Foundation and The Door. Then it was off to a reception hosted by the NeueHouse innovation Center on E. 25th St.
They also plan to join Mayor de Blasio at the Empire State Building for an Innovation is GREAT reception.
Later, the royals will join Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, opera diva Renee Fleming and other notables at a black-tie fund-raiser for the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
Both William and Kate graduated from the university in 2005.
The royal couple have been in the city since Sunday. And while William flew down to Washington on Monday for a White House local youngsters at a Harlem children’s center.
Later, after lunching with swells at the residence of the British consul general and taking in a serious talk about the environment, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge watched the Nets get clobbered by the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
They also got to mix and mingle courtside with some American royalty — audience with LeBron (King James) James.
