Is someone’s royal spidey sense tingling? During a phone call with one of the finalists from the Hold Still 2020 project, the Duchess of Cambridge joked that she might have to buy a Spider-Man costume for her husband Prince William . Kate spoke with martial arts teacher Jason Baird in the recorded call, which took place last autumn. At the start of lockdown, Jason and his friend Andrew Baldock used their daily exercise time to dress up as the superhero to bring smiles to children in Stockport.
Explaining how he came up with the idea of dressing up as Spider-Man, Jason explained, “When we heard the news that you were only allowed out for an hour a day, kind of like the activities, go for a walk, go for a run, it was a more a case of we wanted to try and cheer the kids up.”
“I’ve got two children myself, a five-year-old and a one-year-old, and obviously they can’t go out and they can’t see their friends, and all that type of stuff, so it was more a case of trying to just bring a few smiles and stuff,” he continued. “So we went on the first runs, first jogs and then literally from that day one, we had all the children in the area they were playing Spider-Man out the window. They were dressing up as Spider-Man.”
The kids also had signs in their windows asking for Spider-Man to stop outside their house. Jason shared that over fifty other people joined him in dressing up—some as Snow White, Wonder Woman, Batman—to spread joy and happiness.
Kate told Jason that maybe when she is in town she will see him out and about in his Spider-Man costume. “I’ll see if it takes on the trend here at Kensington Palace,” the Duchess laughed.
“I might have to buy William a suit,” she added. “Unfortunately, I’m not so sure he’s going to get the air clearance that you’ve got!”