Kate Middleton has long been a champion of the importance of nature for mental and physical well-being. In a recent essay, she wrote: “By spending time in nature or being creative, we can nurture the very skills and emotions that cannot be digitised: awareness, empathy, humility, and above all, love.”
The future queen has been working with the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood on a project to “support the healthy development of babies and young children,” as she explained in a recent video, delivered from Cornwall while dressed in ME+EM.
“In this tech-driven, digital age, spending time outdoors has never been more important,” the Princess said.
“This project is about how nature, creativity, and relationships can best support the healthy development of babies and young children,” she continued. “My hope is that through this practical, nature-based research, we can build supportive environments that help make nature more accessible, benefiting babies, young children, and their families across the UK.”
The Princess of Wales has spent many years dedicated to early childhood research, working hard advising the Foundation, even during her cancer treatment. This May, she visited the University of East London’s Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth to see how the University’s researchers use state-of-the-art wearables and brain recording techniques to study how the diverse early living environments and relationships experienced by babies influence early stress—both in the child themselves and their parents and caregivers.
Originally published by Tatler