William and Kate visit Leeds Rhinos as fundraising efforts continue

The Prince and Princess of Wales praised the generation of Leeds Rhinos players that looked up to Rob Burrow as one fundraised in his memory.

William and Kate visited the club where Burrow spent his whole career and met leading former teammates Danny McGuire and Jamie Jones-Buchanan who won and lost by his side on the pitch.

After hearing stories about the special bond in the Leeds Rhinos dressing room, William said: “All the right ingredients came together, you all brought something that made it stronger.”

Burrow was diagnosed with MND barely two years after ending his stellar playing career, but refused to give up the fight and threw himself into a campaign to raise awareness of the condition and help raise funds to find a cure.

Rob Burrow with his wife Lindsey Burrow before the Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon in 2024 (Danny Lawson/PA)

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His efforts won the hearts of many and former team Sir Kevin Sinfield was knighted in the summer, for services to rugby league and the MND community, after being inspired by his friend and raising more than £10 million for MND charities.

Sir Kevin has completed a series of gruelling fundraising challenges, since Burrow’s death in 2024, and is midway through his final effort, seven ultramarathons in seven days.

As William and Kate chatted to the ex-Leeds Rhino stars in the stands, the prince mentioned the small stature of the player who stood just 5ft 5ins tall.

McGuire, who heads the Leeds Rhino Foundation’s Rugby League Development Plan, replied: “Rob was so small but so brave…we followed him, he inspired us.”

William and Kate surprised Sir Kevin Sinfield at the end of day three of his 7 in 7: The Grand Finale 2026 Challenge, at the DIY Kitchens Stadium, the home of Wakefield Trinity, in West Yorkshire (Mike Egerton/PA)

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Jones-Buchanan, the Leeds Rhinos chief executive officer, told the royal couple: “What he lacked in size he made up for in his voice”, adding he was a comic in the dressing room.

William, who in 2024 presented CBEs to Burrow and Sinfield for services to MND awareness, joked about Sinfield’s epic run, saying: “If he can walk by the end of it, it will be amazing.”

The couple later made a surprise visit to the fundraiser in Leeds at the end of his third marathon and told him his actions were “so inspiring”.

On the pitch were a group of under-19 female players being drilled in ball handling skills and children from Lawns Park primary school in Leeds playing activities based around rugby.

The prince and princess chatted to Keara Bennett, one of five Leeds Rhinos players named in the England squad for the women’s World Cup beginning next month.