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Princess Kate made her first solo outing of the year to raise awareness for a cause that has long been important to her—supporting families during early childhood.
The Princess of Wales paid a visit to Foxcubs Nursery in Luton on Wednesday morning to check in with the children there and champion the profound importance of early childhood development and education in establishing a positive platform upon which to build the rest of their lives. Foxcubs Nursery is a free childcare and early education center that boasts an “outstanding” ranking from the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The school is run by the Early Years Alliance, which is also responsible for 70 other similar cost-free educational centers throughout England, representing 14,000 members and helping them deliver the care and schooling needed for over 800,000 families every year.
Kate traveled about an hour from her home in Windsor to arrive at the nursery shortly before 11 a.m., telling the teacher, “Very nice to meet you. Thank you for having me,” before asking, “Is it busy for everybody, is everybody back in? There have been lots of illnesses going around.” The teacher reassured her that despite all the seasonal colds in the area they had “pretty much” all of the children in attendance. The princess replied, “Have you? Well done you.” Kate then spent some time interacting with the kids one-on-one, playing at the sand pit table and putting on a handmade mask to make believe with a few of the nursery schoolers. While there, the royal also met with some of the nursery’s early childhood educators, speaking to them about how important this time in a young person’s life is. She also heard from the parents of some Foxcub students about the impact organization has had on their life.
In 2021, Princess Kate launched the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood as part of her continued commitment to this cause and to “raise awareness of why the first five years of life are just so important for our future life outcomes, and what we can do as a society to embrace this golden opportunity to create a happier, more mentally healthy, more nurturing society.” In December of last year, she joined her husband Prince William on a three-day trip to Boston where she visited the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Following her tour of the facilities, Jack Shonkoff, the director of the center, said, “I was very inspired by how serious she is in wanting to lean into an early childhood agenda. It was remarkably relaxed and informative. It was a lovely one hour that we spent with her.” He continued, “I see her as very motivated in having an impact on the world. She is personally an understated person, there was no sense of an ego in the room. You really get a sense that she understands the power of her platform and has a desire to do good and make a difference.”
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