The Duchess of Cambridge, born
Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, married Prince William at Westminster Abbey in
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 Queen, both in
the UK and overseas, The Duchess devotes her time to supporting a number of
charitable causes and organizations, several of which are centered around
providing children with the best possible start in life.
Early
Years Support
For several years The Duchess
has been working with experts and organizations that are championing the
importance of providing solid psychological, social and emotional platforms for
children in their earliest years of life in order to support their mental
health and emotional resilience, and to provide them with the foundations to
lead to healthy and fulfilling adulthoods.
Children’s
Mental Health
As part of Her Royal
Highness’s work around the early years, The Duchess of Cambridge 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 the Outdoors
The Duchess is a keen
sportswoman and believes not only that physical health complements mental
health, but also that being outdoors, and especially playing the sport, 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.
The Duchess of Cambridge has
continued this work by showing her support for those organizations working to
ensure young people have access to get outdoors to enjoy the natural world and
take part in physical activity. In particular, she is the Royal Patron of
several sport-related institutions: SportsAid, The All England Lawn Tennis and
Croquet Club, The Lawn Tennis Association, and The 1851 Trust. As a mother of
three young children, she is keen to encourage their love of nature and the
outdoors.
Visual
Arts
In March 2018 The Duchess
became the first Royal Patron of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The Patronage reflects Her Royal Highness’s interest in the visual arts,
photography, design and textiles.
The Duchess has been Patron of
the National Portrait Gallery since 2012. In 2018 Her Royal Highness wrote a
foreword for the NPG’s ‘Victorian Giants: The Birth of Art Photography’
exhibition catalog, and captions for selected images in the exhibition that
formed the Gallery’s first-ever Patron’s Trail.
Royal
Patronages
The Duchess is Patron of a
number of organizations that have a 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 through
sport and the outdoors, and showcase national institutions reflecting her
love of the visual arts.
As their Royal Patron, The
Duchess will back their key projects and initiatives, spotlight their work
through her programme of official engagements, and where appropriate by
convening organizations to work in support of each other.
