The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge attended a school lesson on ‘kindness’ earlier today, with Catherine talking about her and William making it a core principle in the parenting of their children, George and Charlotte.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge launched Children’s Mental Health week by learning about kindness with a Place2Be school (@KensingtonRoyal)
The Royal couple visited Mitchell Brook Primary School in Stonebridge, North West London, to mark the beginning of Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health; it is one of the couple’s aims – along with Prince Harry – to tackle the stigma surrounding mental health.
WILLIAM, KATE & HARRY RACE AT MARATHON TRAINING SESSION
William and Catherine took part in a special assembly, and heard about the school’s initiatives to celebrate kindness. William and Catherine were shown a ‘Kindness bench’, where children are encouraged to sit if they need mental support. The Royals were then invited to sit on the bench. After this, the couple presented a ‘Kindness Cup’ to a pupil who ‘has shown exceptional kindness in their school community’.
Place2Be Patron HRH The Duchess of Cambridge spoke about the importance of kindness @mbrookprimary today for our Big Assembly #childrensmhw pic.twitter.com/XJ0Cckn1eL
— Place2Be (@Place2Be) February 6, 2017
The Duchess, who is patron of ‘Place2Be’ gave an address to the children gathered: “My parents taught me about the importance of qualities like kindness, respect, and honesty, and I realise how central values like these have been to me throughout my life. That is why William and I want to teach our little children, George and Charlotte, just how important these things are as they grow up. In my view it is just as important as excelling at maths or sport.”
William and Catherine presented an award for kindness at Mitchell Brook Primary School in London (@KensingtonRoyal)
The Duke and Duchess made the visit as part of their ‘Heads Together’ campaign, which was launched by the couple and Prince Harry in 2016.
This came after yesterday’s London Marathon training session, where the Royal trio raced one another in a relay race. It was revealed that Catherine is a keen runner, but none of the Royals can participate in the 26.2 mile run due to security. Heads Together is set to be the marathon’s charity of the year.
Another engagement focussed on mental health came for William and Kate this evening, as they represented the charity when attending The Guild of Health Writers Conference. Prince William spoke candidly about his career with the East Anglian Air Ambulance, which is expected to end in the summer. The Prince said that his boss encouraged him ‘to speak openly’ about mental health at home and work.
William and Kate attended a health writers conference to help tackle mental health stigma (@KensingtonRoyal)
In addition to this, Prince William remarked: “‘For me personally, it was a gradual awakening over many years through work I’ve been privileged to witness with vulnerable young people – the homeless, the unemployed, those who are unable to fulfil their potential. It was their openness about their mental health, their anxiety issues, their honesty about not coping, that made me realise that poor mental health was a major issue in our society.”
The father-of-two also gave some shocking statistics, including that it takes, on average, 10 years for a person to admit there is a problem, escalating a small issues into ‘something serious & medical after time…but talking can lead to help,’ William said.
Furthermore, The Duke of Cambridge revealed that ‘Heads Together’ is to announce a campaign to “get people from all walks of life to record videos recounting what it feels like to open up to someone else”, within the coming months.
