The retired civil servant and royal fan who swears blind she spotted the Waleses on a £40million superyacht off the coast of an enchanting Greek island

Daily Mail​

15 hours ago

Normally at this time of year the people of the Ionian Islands talk of being overworked and little else.
With nearly three million tourists visiting the region during July and August, they certainly have their work cut out. Not that they'd have it any other way, of course.
For more than a week, though, another topic, or rather a question, has dominated conversation in bars and tavernas, particularly on beautiful Kefalonia. Has anyone seen Prince William and his family?
Locals swear blind that the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children George, 12, Charlotte, ten, and seven-year-old Louis arrived on the island by private Lear jet on July 16. Also in tow, others insisted, were the future King's in-laws, Carole and Michael Middleton. All were then driven to a waiting superyacht. And from there out to azure waters and, well, who knows where?
Speculation has been rife. 'Oh yes, sure, I got a picture of their boat,' a taxi driver assures me. He flourishes his smartphone and a photo of the superyacht, Norn, cruising north of the capital Argostoli.
He adds: 'It's owned by a Microsoft tycoon, a billionaire tech guy. I know for sure this is the one they're on.'
Maybe. But wasn't the smart money on an even bigger boat? On July 19 stories began to surface in the Greek media of how the Prince and Princess were enjoying the largesse of Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a prominent member of the UAE royal family.
His £340 million 146-metre (479ft) mega-yacht, Opera, is said to be one of the most opulent private vessels in the world.
It boasts every amenity imaginable and in some cases, like Noah's Ark, two of everything – including helipads.
While the story was ignored by the British media, it was picked up around the world. The Delhi-based Hindustan Times, for instance, ran its account under the headline 'Prince William, Kate Middleton sailing around Greece on yacht belonging to Emirati sheikh'.
Some stories specified restaurants the royals were supposed to have visited.
Social media hastened the story's spread, proclaiming certain 'facts' with inflexible certainty. On Kefalonia, meanwhile, where rumours move quicker than the Opera at full tilt, locals added their own embellishments.
A taverna waiter in the pretty fishing village of Agia Efimia, where the Opera dropped anchor, tells me the royals were taken to the harbour by tender boat.
'There were about 12 black people carriers waiting for them. Then they were driven to the Melissani Cave which was closed for the day just for them.'
But did he see William and Kate and the kids in the flesh? 'No, but my cousin Vangelis did, I'm sure of it.'
Once located, however, Vangelis admits: 'I saw their executive cars speeding through the village, but I'm sorry – I cannot truly say that I eyeballed them.'
Wiser souls in the village insisted the waiter and his cousin, and many more besides, were simply mistaken. What they really saw, they said, was not the Windsors but the Emiratis – something confirmed when the Daily Mail visited the roofless limestone Melissani Cave.
There, cheerful gondoliers row tourists through a stalactite-lined cavern filled with brackish water of a startling ultramarine. One of the gondoliers says: 'It's fake news. The Arab royals and their children came and we closed the cave off for half an hour so they could have a private tour.
'But there was definitely no William and Kate.'
It was a similar story at the restaurants on the island where the Prince and Princess and their children were supposed to have 'sampled delightful local delicacies'.
Two expressed bemusement but promised a warm welcome should the royals drop by. A third said it was visited by an Opera crew member. 'Nobody from your royal family though,' said the manager.
The Ionian Islands are steeped in rich mythology. Was the story of William and Kate's holiday proving just that – a myth?
Besides, Lear jets and mega-yachts aren't a particularly good look for a prince who wears his green credentials proudly.
William's Earthshot Prize gives £1 million every year to five projects tackling climate challenges.
And wasn't it only a couple of months ago that he was hailing Sir David Attenborough on the eve of his new documentary, Ocean? In it, Sir David intones: 'I now understand that if we save the sea we save our world.'
And it goes without saying that the great naturalist is decidedly sniffy about fuel-guzzling superyachts, which are said to cause even more damage to the environment than private jets. Maybe William and co had opted for a caravan holiday on the Isle of Wight instead. Sources were still insisting, though, that the royals had 'definitely' landed at Kefalonia's main airport.
Then word reached the Daily Mail of a woman – a retired senior civil servant in the Greek defence ministry – who was said to have seen them first hand. The only known person, in fact, to have laid eyes on them.
We traced her to her home overlooking enchanting Mavrouna Bay, close to the postcard-pretty village of Kioni on the tiny neighbouring island of Ithaca, which with emerald shores, wooded hills and secluded beaches is even more beautiful than Kefalonia. Aged 64, Penelope Likoudi was born and raised on the island, where she now owns a number of luxury apartments. A friend says: 'She is a respected lady, someone of high standing here.'
She's a huge admirer of the royals too, has visited Buckingham Palace and Balmoral, 'devours' everything written about them and 'cried for days' when Princess Diana died. Over lemonade and cake at a cafe overlooking secluded Mavrouna Bay, she takes up the story of her royal encounter. Every day, she says, she swims in the bay, 'where I do exercises in the water for my back'.
Last Tuesday was no different but this time there was a yacht moored about 100 metres or so from the shore and vaguely mindful of the stories of William and Kate, she decided to check it out.
'It was a possibility as a lot of celebrities come to this very spot. I think it was sometime after 11.30 in the morning,' she recalled. 'I swam out beyond the warning buoy and was about 30 metres (100ft) from the yacht when I saw them. Kate was standing on the top level with Charlotte and Louis. She was wearing a dark wraparound dress.
'There was an older lady next to them, possibly Kate's mother, but I wasn't able to see her well.
'I literally shivered with excitement. I was shocked, I couldn't believe it.
'Now I wish I'd called out hello to them. But I didn't, I got star-struck and couldn't get the words out. There was no sign of William or George though.' Did they see her? 'I think they must have done. I was the only one swimming that far out. You know, there was only a handful of locals on the beach.'
'They were looking at the wonderful bays, all green with trees coming all the way down to the sea. And I thought that maybe they would take out a boat so I waited for a bit,' she said.
'There was some sort of movement in the lower deck – the crew were untying something.
'But I couldn't stay long. I have only limited time because my mother is 94 and bedridden and I needed to get back to her. First though, when I got to dry land, I went to the top point of the cape and took some pictures of the boat with my phone.'
It transpires that the Prince and Princess were in fact on the 50 metre (164ft) Almax, one of the world's first fuel-cell superyachts which is estimated to be worth £40million. Built by Italian firm San Lorenzo, it is described as a 'huge milestone in the future of sustainable boating'.
That at least should deflect any criticism heading the Prince's way. Sure enough, Penelope's sighting tallies with maritime records which show that the Almax left Kioni the following day. It returned to Argostoli on Friday. There remains one mystery. Witnesses saw a different party exit the boat the next morning.
So had the royals got off elsewhere? Intriguingly, on the morning Almax left Mavrouna there were said to be several other superyachts in the bay, including the Norn, the boat mentioned by the taxi driver when I first arrived in Kefalonia.
'The bay is like a catwalk for these yachts,' said a gift shop owner, adding that basketball legend Michael Jordan's yacht was 'also here on the same day'. Before Almax sped north a man arrived on Norn – which is owned by Microsoft mogul Charles Simonyi – by helicopter. Some locals speculated fancifully that it might be William. Unlikely, says Penelope. 'But either way, it's a shame I didn't get to see him.'
Others in Kioni spoke of a visit William and Harry made to the village with their mother in 1995. 'Perhaps he was making a nostalgic return, a trip down memory lane,' says one woman.
'The English royals love it here. Charles and Diana stopped off on their honeymoon. And Charles and Camilla came ashore at Mavrouna in 2012. 'Now William has returned like Odysseus.' The Greek hero's delayed return to Ithaca is the plot of Homer's epic poem Odyssey.
As Penelope heads for home, she speaks of the 'magic of Mavrouna and its special energy'.
She adds: 'Kate has been unwell and I hope their holiday helped them. I hope they come back again. But I have no wish to see Harry and Meghan as I just can't stand them.
'For now I will treasure this special memory. I just wish I'd said hello. Maybe we could have had a chat.'
William and Charlotte subsequently flew to Switzerland on Sunday to cheer on the Lionesses as they won the Euros final. It is understood that the family are now back in Britain.