Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge officially takes over Prince Harry’s royal rugby patronage

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, has made her debut as the official Patron of the Rugby Football League and Rugby Football.

The royal has inherited the role from her brother-in-law Prince Harry who resigned from his royal duties and moved to California to live a more normal life with his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their two children, Archie and Lilibet.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official Instagram account posted a video to celebrate the year ahead and Catherine literally kicking off her new role.

Watch Kate make her debut in the video below.

In the short clip, Catherine is decked out in an electric blue funnel turtleneck and Nike black sports pants with her hair in a half up, half-down style, as she throws a rugby ball up into the air, and a young rugby player catches it.

The girl then passes it along to a series of players from different teams until the ball is thrown back to the Duchess.

Alongside the video, Kate wrote a caption detailing how excited she is for the year ahead and why she believes sport is an important institution for community morale.

“I am so thrilled to become Patron of the Rugby Football League and Rugby Football Union – two fantastic organisations who are committed to harnessing the power that sport can have in bringing communities together and helping individuals flourish,” she wrote.

“I look forward to working with them across all levels of the games, and to cheering England on in what promises to be an exciting year for both sports! C.”

It comes as no surprise to royal fans that Kate is taking on Harry’s role with ease because she is famous for her love of sports.

The Duchess is already patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and has shown her athletic skills on numerous royal outings. Before marrying Prince William, she was also an avid hockey player and rower.

According to her sister Pippa Middleton, the Middletons are especially competitive about rugby.

In 2014 she told Vanity Fair, “Picture the scene. It’s Saturday afternoon in the Middleton household. The atmosphere is heavy with expectation.

“All eyes are on the television … we’re watching England play Ireland in the 1996 Five Nations Rugby tournament … Rugby was a big thing in our family, and the focal point was international matches … We’d plan our weekends around the matches … If we lost, my dad would be in a state of despair for the rest of the afternoon, as if he’d actually lost the game himself.”

Prince William is a patron of the Welsh Rugby Union, so there may be a new rivalry on their hands.