The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

[TLLK]

CC Wednesday: The Duchess of Cambridge, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, this morning held an Early Years Meeting.

[TLLK]

Court circular Kensington Palace 22nd April, 2021 The Duchess of Cambridge, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, this morning held an Early Years Meeting.

[AC21091968]

The Duchess of Cambridge, Joint Patron of the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge held an Early Years Meeting on the morning of 28th April.

28 April 2021
Kensington Palace
The Duchess of Cambridge, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, this morning held an Early Years Meeting.

https://www.royal.uk/court-circular?...F04%2F2021&id=

[yukari]

Court circular

Kensington Palace
29th April, 2021
The Duke of Cambridge, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, this morning held a Meeting for the Earthshot Prize via video link.

His Royal Highness, Joint Patron, the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, this afternoon held a Meeting with Ambassador Caroline Kennedy (Honorary President of the John F Kennedy Library Foundation) via video link.

[iceflower]

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were in the West Midlands today, May 13, to visit projects for the Mental Health Awareness Week:


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 ** Pic 4 ** Pic 5 ** rex gallery ** gettyimages gallery **


** birminghammail: Prince William and Kate Middleton giggle together on Wolverhampton youth charity visit **


** dm article: Kate's on the dot! Duchess of Cambridge looks elegant in a spotted navy blouse and wide-legged trousers..**

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYRL8VVDIXI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wnJxUQF0yE

[An Ard Ri]

Here's a video of todays visit to Wolverhampton to mark Mental Health Awareness Week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlZzOwL25EA

[iceflower]

The Duke of Cambridge as Joint Patron of the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had a virtual meeting for the Earthshot Prize yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vhPsVfat8c

[Heavs]

Telegraph article on Kate's Early Years work:

Exclusive: the ‘profoundly powerful’ moments that shaped Duchess of Cambridge’s children’s charity work:

It all started with secret visits the public never got to see. Newly married, and with the world’s press chronicling her every move – down to the details of her designer dresses – the Duchess of Cambridge resolved to go "below radar".

Acting as Prince William’s "plus one", rather than a fully fledged solo royal in those early days, the newest addition to the Royal family knew that she wanted to find a cause she could champion as impactfully as Diana, the Princess of Wales’s landmine campaign; it was simply a question of where to find it.

Having already announced her first patronage of Action on Addiction, a charity working with people with drug and alcohol problems, Hope House, a women-only rehabilitation centre in Clapham, south London, seemed as good a place as any to start.

It was October 2011 when the then 29-year-old Duchess paid the first of several, incognito visits in a bid to find out what had sent its clients on a downward spiral of self-destruction.

And on the big announcement next week:

he will launch a new initiative through the couple’s Royal Foundation to further explore the science around early childhood, raise awareness of the issue and foster collaboration and partnerships across relevant groups.

According to Lord Hague, who became chairman of the Royal Foundation last September, the "ambitious" new project will be equal in stature to William’s £50 million Earthshot Prize, launched last year with Sir David Attenborough to find workable solutions to climate change and environmental problems.

"The Duchess truly believes this is one of the great issues of our time," said the former Tory leader. "This is the central plank of her work in the way conservation issues are for the Duke. It’s a hugely significant moment."

https://archive.ph/GmbKe

[Heavs]

The Duchess of Cambridge and Dr Biden have written a joint Op-Ed about Early Years for CNN:

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/06/12/o...-19/index.html

[Osipi]

I'm thinking we have a dynamic duo here championing for the children of our future. I had known that Jill and Catherine were to meet and knowing the FLOTUS' background in education and Catherine's passion for kids, I thought that these two would get along like a house on fire. I was right. Excellent article! Thanks for posting it, Heavs.

I'll also remark that I'm so very happy to have a FLOTUS that gets involved the way Catherine does.

[solinka]

Originally Posted by Osipi

I'm thinking we have a dynamic duo here championing for the children of our future. I had known that Jill and Catherine were to meet and knowing the FLOTUS' background in education and Catherine's passion for kids, I thought that these two would get along like a house on fire. I was right. Excellent article! Thanks for posting it, Heavs.

I'll also remark that I'm so very happy to have a FLOTUS that gets involved the way Catherine does.

Why Catherine hasn't continued her education in child psychology ? Having passion about something is nice but with more knowledge and depth Catherine would sound more assured.

[muriel]

Originally Posted by solinka

Why Catherine hasn't continued her education in child psychology ? Having passion about something is nice but with more knowledge and depth Catherine would sound more assured.

She may well choose to study child psychology in the future. But in making that choice, she will need to balance her obligations as one of the leading ladies of the BRF and a mother to three young children.

[Osipi]

Originally Posted by solinka

Why Catherine hasn't continued her education in child psychology ? Having passion about something is nice but with more knowledge and depth Catherine would sound more assured.

Maybe she would when it happens that a day is stretched to 48 hours. Right now, I don't think that Catherine needs to have a more in depth education in child psychology as, most likely, in her endeavors, she probably has a panel of those already very educated to draw on.

Catherine's talents lie in the ability to create a platform and through that, draw to it the necessary think tanks to make it happen and to also draw to the platform those donations that are needed to make it a success.

Knowledge is power but power also lies in where to find the knowledge and the elbow grease to make things happen.

[Heavs]

This is more teasing of the big project, which I assume she's announcing tomorrow:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CQO5Zi8FvXs/

They're very keen to emphasise this was 10 years in the making.

[ACO]

She is helping launch a research center. I really like that and look forward to watching it all come together.

[iceflower]

Here’s an article about the new project:


** Kate's campaign for kids! Duchess of Cambridge launches new Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood..**

[EvaH]

During the Royal Foundation forum she talked about building something for the next generation and for her children to take over. This is actually perfect if they wanted to follow that path: 3 kids, one future king, one future Earshot director, one future Center for Early childhood director.
Reading this report reminded me of that documentary about HM Queen Máxima work at the UN and her picking the layout, pictures etc of her own reports. Catherine truly hired a fantastic team and hold steadfast to her vision. Really really excited about this work. She created her own international function, while being firmly tied to the UK and the rest of the family (early childhood, late childhood DoE, late teenage years adulthood Prince Trust).

And also she didn't help launched, she has just created a research centre which can have so much potential. I don't think a royal has ever done this.

[yukari]

New on The Royal Foundation website:
THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE LAUNCHES THE ROYAL FOUNDATION CENTRE FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD

Today, The Duchess of Cambridge has launched 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.

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood will focus on three key areas of activity in the years to come:

• promoting and commissioning high-quality research to increase knowledge and share best practice;
• working with people from across the private, public and voluntary sectors to collaborate on new solutions; and
• developing creative campaigns to raise awareness and inspire action, driving real, positive change on the early years.

(...)

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood Report: Big Change Starts Small, June 2021
(written in collaboration with The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University and the London School of Economics)

Foreword: The Duchess of Cambridge
My own journey on the importance of early childhood started with adults, not children...

When first undertaking royal duties a decade ago, I started meeting inspiring people who were rebuilding their lives from challenges such as addiction, homelessness, violence — and the mental ill health that often underpins these experiences. Spending time together and hearing more about their lives, I was struck by how often poor mental health but also early childhood was the focus of our conversation.

It was the recurrence of these conversations that drove me to want to learn more. And I am indebted to the academics, practitioners and, of course, parents who shared their knowledge so generously with me. Because by understanding the data, observing the practice and listening to lived experience, it became clear that if we want to build a happier and mentally healthier society then one of the best investments we can make is in the relationships, environments and experiences that make up our early childhoods.

What this report makes clear is that our first five years lay important foundations for our future selves. This period is when we first learn to manage our emotions and impulses, to care and to empathise, and thus ultimately to establish healthy relationships with ourselves and others.

It is a time when our experience of the world around us, and the way that this moulds our development, can have a lifelong impact on our future mental and physical wellbeing. Indeed, what shapes our childhood shapes the adults and the parents we become. But — and this is crucial to understand — even if we ourselves didn’t get the best start in life we can still break the cycle and develop the skills needed to raise the next generation better.

What this means is that we need to go beyond physical needs and give focus to social and emotional needs too. Nurtured children are the consequence of nurturing adults. So to invest in children means also investing in the people around them — the parents, carers, grandparents, early years workforce and more. And therefore, transforming early childhood comes back to each and every one of us. There are so many ways in which we can all support, whether as private, public and voluntary sectors, as individuals or as communities. Investing in a child is ultimately an investment in our future societal health and happiness, but to achieve this vision we need the whole of society to play its part.

In establishing The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, our mission is to drive awareness of, and action on, the transformative impact of the early years. We aim to change the way people think about early childhood — and this report is our first step. We will help to make change through fresh research to identify opportunities, collaborations to scale solutions and creative campaigns to bring this issue to life.

We will do this by continuing to listen to others and being informed by the data.

I hope this report inspires you to join this journey.

It won’t be easy — transformation never is — but big change starts small.

(newly launched) Centre for Early Childhood website:
https://centreforearlychildhood.org/

The Times (paywall):
Duchess of Cambridge sets up early years research centre
Archive

(...)

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood will start with about half a dozen staff and be funded by the duke and duchess’s Royal Foundation.

As well as promoting and commissioning research, it will work with academics, charities and other bodies to “collaborate on new solutions”. It will also develop “creative campaigns to raise awareness and inspire action, driving real, positive change on the early years”.

(...)

The launch report for the duchess’s early childhood centre says that nearly a third of five-year-olds are not reaching a good level of development, according to their teachers.

Disadvantaged children are 4.6 months behind their peers by the end of reception, it says.

Vainker, founding head teacher of the Reach Academy in Feltham, said: “Kids are super-resilient, but childhood and school in particular is harder for those kids. They find it harder to learn new things, they find it harder to build relationships. It affects their future life chances and future opportunities.”

It can be down to a variety of reasons. Vainker said that they included a lack of good face-to-face interaction, poor support to develop their speech and language skills, and stress at home: “Really young children, when their parents are experiencing really acute stress, that really rubs off on them and can be tough on them.”

Vainker said there should be more support for early years education, and better integration between services.

Video to launch the centre:
https://twitter.com/KensingtonRoyal/...67250628341765

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_bLXFreFqY

[Royalist.in.NC]

This is amazing and so important! In the US there is a push to understanding ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and how trauma impacts the developing brain. And that the brain has amazing potential to rewire with specific positive experiences that children can be given to mitigate the trauma. It is cutting edge knowledge and I’m so impressed that Kate has started this foundation

[Moran]

Research centres are so very important and the cause is a worthy one. I like how Catherine holds tight to this longtime interest. It's getting increasingly clear that these years are still underestimated in importance.