Kate Middleton and Prince William Leave Awestruck North America
Kate says she "really enjoyed" the as royal couple leaves U.S. for England.
July 11, 2011 -- Prince William and Kate Middleton boarded a British Airways commercial flight in Los Angeles Sunday bound for their London home, but not before taking the city of Los Angeles, and North America by storm.
It was the duchess herself who made the most news in the trip's final hours, issuing her first public words of the couple's three-day stop in California.
"Really enjoyed it, thank you," Kate said in impromptu remarks to a reporter asking how she liked her first trip to the U.S. as the couple greeted fans staked outside the British consul's residence in the city's Hancock Park neighborhood where they stayed.
The minor tremor those few words sparked in even the media capital of the world show just how much the American public, and even Hollywood's most A-list stars, could not get enough of Prince William and his bride, who handled the public attention in a sort of trial-by-fire.
"I know inside she is nervous," Arthur Edwards, royal photographer for the U.K.'s Daily Sun told ABC News. "But it doesn't show, and that's what's important. She looks confident."
Having out-shone Hollywood's glitziest stars at a red-carpet, black-tie dinner for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts the night before, Kate and her groom displayed their confidence, and compassion, in different ways on the final stops of their tour.
On Sunday, the couple saw another side of Los Angeles when they visited Inner City Arts, an arts academy for disadvantaged children on skid row, one of the city's most impoverished neighborhoods.
There Kate and Will, who have made headlines throughout their trip by showing public displays of affection rarely seen from royals, showed their lighter side once again, as they painted alongside students from the art academy.
"What the heck is that?" Prince William asked his bride of her painting.
Sunday's agenda also included a private breakfast with patrons of Tusk Trust, an African wildlife conservation group, and a final stop with the group ServiceNation: Mission Serve, for a jobs fair with combat veterans.
"This is the last event on our tour of North America, but to my mind, it is one of the most important," Prince William told the audience as he stood in front of a giant American flag at Sony Pictures Studio, where the jobs fair was held.
He also wrapped up his remarks by telling the audience "how grateful we are to have been welcomed so warmly in the Golden State and the City of Angels. Thank you so much."
Royals Among Hollywood's Royals
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, as the couple is formally known, had Hollywood dancing on pins and needles from the moment their plane landed in L.A. over the weekend, fresh off their nine-day visit to Canada.
SEE PHOTOS: Will and Kate Mingle With Hollywood A-Listers
"L.A. is more used to big Hollywood stars than anywhere else," said ABC News royal correspondent Katie Nicholl. "It's the most famous place in the world for stars."
On Saturday, Prince William played in a charity polo match in Santa Barbara, where people paid as much as $400 to watch from the stands and $4,000 to attend a champagne reception with the royals, all benefitting a foundation established by the prince and his brother, Harry.
Kate presented her husband with the trophy at the match, garnering a kiss on the cheek and drawing eyeballs as the couple continues to put their own, new spin on royal life.
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