The Princess of Wales displayed her caring side again today as she showed a young girl at a trauma therapy centre how to hear the sea in a shell – before joining teenage girls for rugby drills and joining a mental health group on an outdoor walk.
Kate spoke to therapists at Family Action in Bradford this morning, a charity which helps children and their families recover from complex trauma.
She also joined creative therapy sessions – talking to children about collage trees and wish boxes – to understand how the use of play can be a vehicle for healing.
Kate spent the day visiting several organisations in the North of England to highlight the power of creativity, community and nature for those who have experienced trauma, isolation and poor mental health.
She has long championed mental health causes and emphasised how nature had helped her ‘heal’ from cancer treatment in a video series most recently released on her 44th birthday.
Her engagements across the North also saw her visit Wakefield Trinity’s ground, where she praised the club’s ‘gold dust’ support for its local community.
At the club, she met schoolgirls being put through their rugby paces, pensioners taking part in a quiz and teenagers at risk of being excluded from school.
The future queen, who is patron of the Rugby Football League, was wearing a smart jacket and trousers for the visit.
Kate Middleton is all smiles as she greets members of the public and is seen with flowers as she leaves Wakefield rugby club today
Princess Kate, patron of Family Action, teaches a young girl how to hear the sea in a shell during a visit to the charity’s Children’s Trauma Therapy Service in Bradford
She later joined a wellbeing walk in the Peak District with Mind Over Mountains, which offers mental health support through outdoor experiences
This meant her participation was limited to chatting to girls during a break from their skills session for Wakefield’s Champion Schools competition – rather than getting stuck into the drills themselves.
Kate was quizzed about Princess Charlotte’s school activities as she stood beside the pitch in freezing temperatures, telling the young players: ‘She does loads of sport but not rugby.’
She also joked with the group about the physicality of rugby league, saying: ‘There’s not any other sport when you can say contact is a good thing.’
During the visit Kate sat down with a group of Wakefield supporters aged from their 60s to their 90s who are regulars at In Touch events run by Wakefield Trinity’s Community Foundation, the Super League club’s charitable arm.
The sessions help elderly people at risk of loneliness to socialise.
The princess told them: ‘I love this, the league game is so embedded in community life and it’s so grassroots (and) interaction, and getting youngsters involved but also how clubs like this connect to the rest of the community.
‘They’re absolute gold dust really, and I’m so proud to help support the league across the country.’
She was even given a Wakefield shirt, prompting captain – and England player – Mike McMeeken to joke: ‘Now she has a Wakefield Trinity shirt she is an honorary member of the club!’
Following the visit to Wakefield she tied her hair in a plait and donned a newsboy-style cap for a walk in the hills with Mind Over Mountains, a charity offering professional mental health support through therapeutic outdoor experiences
It rounded off the day that began with the visit to Family Action, of which she is a patron.