HRH The Princess of Wales

HRH The Princess of Wales

The Princess of Wales, born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, married Prince William, The Prince of Wales, at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. Their Royal Highnesses have three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. The family’s official residence is Kensington Palace. As well as undertaking royal duties in support of The King, both in the UK and overseas, Her Royal Highness devotes her time to supporting a number of charitable causes and organisations, several of which are centred around providing children with the best possible start in life.

Royal Patronages

The Princess of Wales is Patron of a number of organisations which have close association with her specific charitable interests, and where she feels her support can make a difference. These broadly reflect her desire to help the most vulnerable children, young people and their families, as well as to promote opportunities though sport and the outdoors, and showcasing national institutions which reflect her love of the visual arts.

As their Royal Patron, Her Royal Highness will support their key projects and initiatives, spotlight their work through her programme of official engagements and where appropriate by convening organisations to work in support of each other.

The Princess of Wales is Royal Patron of several sport-related institutions: SportsAid, The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, The Lawn Tennis Association, and The 1851 Trust. Visual Arts The Princess of Wales has a longstanding interest in the visual arts, photography, design and textiles, having studied History of Art at St. Andrews University.

Royal Foundation

The Princess of Wales, like her husband, also directs her own philanthropic work through The Royal Foundation. The Foundation develops programmes and charitable projects based on the interests of Their Royal Highnesses by working with organisations which are already making a proven impact in their respective fields. The Royal Foundation mobilises leaders, businesses and people so that together we can address society’s greatest challenges. The organisation’s work is built on world-class research, long-term partnerships, and measurable, scalable impact

Early Child Support

Through her work over the past decade The Princess of Wales has seen first-hand how some of today’s hardest social challenges have their roots in the earliest years of a person’s life. The Princess is committed to raising awareness of the importance of early childhood experiences and of collaborative action in order to improve outcomes across society.

In March 2018, Her Royal Highness convened a steering group to look at what could be done to bring about long-lasting change to the lives of children, by focussing on their earliest stage of life from pre-birth to 5 years of age. The steering group’s recommendations, on behalf of The Princess, have formed the basis of The Royal Foundation’s strategy for developing her work in this area in years to come.

In January 2020, The Princess launched ‘5 Big Questions on the Under Fives’ – a landmark survey which aimed to start a nationwide conversation on early childhood. The findings of the survey were unveiled later that year, alongside in-depth qualitative and ethnographic research conducted by Ipsos MORI.

In June 2021, Her Royal Highness highlighted her dedication to the cause by launching The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which will drive awareness of and action on the extraordinary impact of the early years, in order to transform society for generations to come. In February 2022, Her Royal Highness visited Denmark to learn about the Danish approach to early childhood development and to explore how The Centre for Early Childhood can take learnings from this world-leading work.

“I have seen that experiences such as homelessness, addiction, and poor mental health are often grounded in a difficult childhood. But I have also seen, how positive protective factors in the early years can play a critical role in shaping our futures too.” – The Princess of Wales

As part of Her Royal Highness’s work around early childhood, The Princess of Wales is a committed champion of issues related to children’s mental health and emotional wellbeing. Her Royal Highness has worked to bring wider public attention to the fact that issues facing children today such as addiction, poverty, abuse, neglect, loss and illness of family members, can have a long-lasting and traumatic impact if left unsupported. Moreover, academic research has shown conclusively that early childhood trauma will affect mental health long into adulthood, with significant costs to individuals, their families, society and the economy.

Sport and Outdoors

The Princess of Wales strongly believes that spending time outdoors plays a pivotal role in children’s future health and happiness, building foundations that last through childhood and over a lifetime.

The Princess is also keen sportswoman and strongly believes that physical health not only complements mental health, but also has the power to engage, educate and inspire and change lives for the better. Her Royal Highness’s passion for sport, nature and the outdoors stems from her own experience and enjoyment of playing tennis and hockey and sailing from a young age.

In 2019, The Princess designed and built a series of Back to Nature gardens which were displayed at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival. The gardens aimed to highlight how spending time outdoors can enrich a child’s early development by encouraging active exploration and providing the opportunity to form and strengthen positive relationships. The project culminated in the creation of a permanent Back to Nature play garden at RHS Wisley, which Her Royal Highness officially opened in September 2019.

Her Royal Highness has continued this work by showing her support for those organisations working to ensure young people have access to get outdoors to enjoy the natural world and take part in physical activity. She is Royal Patron of several sport-related institutions: SportsAid, The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, The Lawn Tennis Association, and The 1851 Trust.