The Duchess of Cambridge has joked about the gift she'll be getting her husband Prince William, which their young children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are sure to love – a Spider-Man outfit!

Kate was speaking to martial arts teacher Jason Baird, who spent much of lockdown entertaining children in his local area of Stockport by dressing up as Spider-Man. Jason, who runs Jason Baird's Black Belt Academy, and his friend Andrew Baldock, became known as the "Stockport Spider-Men" as they brought smiles to kids' faces by using their daily walks to dress up in character.

A photo showing Jason as Spider-Man is among 100 photographs chosen for Kate's Hold Still exhibition and book, which encouraged the public to document life during the pandemic.

"Thank you for sending in your photograph because there are some really emotive and really sad images and stories that we had," Kate said during her phone call with Jason. "But this brought, you know, particularly to the judging panel, it was such a wonderful positive image of community spirit.

"It was amazingly captured. And I hadn't appreciated at the time that you are a martial arts teacher so that gives it a lot of context as well."

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The photo of Jason dressed up as Spider-Man features in Kate's Hold Still book

Towards the end of the call, the Duchess joked that she'd have to buy William a fancy dress outfit to entertain children in their local area. "I'll see if it takes on the trend here at Kensington Palace," she laughed. "Might have to buy William a suit. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure he's going to get the air clearance that you've got."

The mum-of-three also asked Jason what inspired him to dress up as Spider-Man in lockdown. "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 more a case of we wanted to try and cheer the kids up," he said.

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Kate praised Jason Baird for bringing joy to his local community

"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, so it was more a case of trying to just bring a few smiles and stuff.

"Literally from that day one, we had all the children in the area playing Spider-Man out the window, dressing up as Spider-Man, they had signs in the window, 'Spider-Man stop outside my house' and stuff."

Kate praised Jason for bringing so much joy to his local community as well as inspiring others to follow suit in their own towns and cities. "Really well done and thank you so much for sharing your photograph. Thank you for your time. It's been great to chat today," she said.

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