A grinning Prince Louis donned a Wales bucket hat as he stole the spotlight during a day out with his family to the Commonwealth Games.

In a rare public appearance for the eight-year-old prince, Louis was seen beaming alongside his family with a Beicio Cymru hat - which means Wales Cycling.

William and Kate – who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay while in Scotland – were accompanied by Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Prince George for a netball semi-final at Glasgow’s Hydro arena, ahead of the Games’ closing ceremony on Sunday, in what is the children’s first official visit to Scotland.

Following the netball, the family emerged from the arena between lines of volunteers, and met gold medal-winning para powerlifter Mark Swan and gymnast Reuben Ward on the concourse outside the venue.

Commonwealth Games mascot Finnie also high-fived George, Charlotte and Louis and fist-bumped Kate.

Waiting crowds cheered the family as they made their way to their waiting cars, before they went on to watch cycling at the Velodrome.

Ward, who won a gold medal while competing for Scotland, told Press Association: “Coming into the Games, I was just hoping for the best and hopefully I could get some medals.

“Being in a position where I’m being chosen to meet the Prince of Wales, it’s just a strange but incredible experience.”

The family headed to the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in the east end of the city, where they met Sir Chris himself and took in some of the action on the cycling track.

In recent days, the sporting event – affectionately known as the “friendly games” – has been attended by the Duke of Edinburgh, vice patron of Commonwealth Sport, which delivers the games, and his wife.

Earlier, the King and Queen emerged from a Tardis at the Hydro arena during the opening ceremony.

The light-hearted moment was reminiscent of London 2012 when Queen Elizabeth II appeared to skydive into the Olympic Stadium alongside James Bond actor Daniel Craig.

The opening ceremony in Glasgow was the first to be held indoors as part of a radical restructuring of the games’ finances after Australian state Victoria withdrew as host of the event in 2023, citing spiralling costs.

The future of the event, which originated as the British Empire Games in 1930, was in doubt until Glasgow was convinced to step in and reprise its hosting role from 2014, albeit with significant alterations.

William and Kate will also spend time with athletes competing at the games whose careers have been empowered by the charity SportsAid, which Kate has supported as patron since 2013, and meet emerging talent taking part in the Team England Futures project.

Sporting stars whose early promise was boosted by SportsAid include Sir Chris Hoy, Ellie Simmonds, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill and Tom Daley.

Team England Futures has given talented young athletes and aspiring support staff the opportunity to attend the Glasgow games to gain behind-the-scenes experience in preparation for potential medal-winning performances as Team England, Team GB or ParalympicsGB debutants.