'KATE IS A FUTURE QUEEN WE CAN CONNECT WITH'

AS THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE CHAMPIONS CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH CHARITIES AND APPEARS ON CBEEBIES, A ROYAL EXPERT TELLS OK! SHE'LL BE A HANDS-ON QUEEN

- SAMUEL MCMANUS-MAXWELL

The Duchess of Cambridge showed off her maternal side last week as she cooked with toddlers at a community parental support project in London to mark Children’s Mental Health Week.

Kate visited Parents and Communities Together in Southwark, where she heard how parents and their families are supported with their mental health and wellbeing.

The 40-year-old met volunteers and attendees of the project’s weekly MumSpace group, at which local parents discuss and work through problems. Speaking with the group’s leader, Josephine Namusisi-Riley, and Simonette Guerra, a health visitor who provides advice for the mothers, Kate said, “It’s fantastic that there is a space like this, linking services to each other.

“Feeling connected to each other as humans and being able to listen to each other helps with the isolation. So much in mental health is about having someone to talk to and listen.”

The Duchess added, “For the child’s journey, being able to link up health and education, through community programmes and services like this, is really vital.”

Never afraid to get her hands dirty, the mum-of-three helped to prepare fruit kebabs in a playgroup cooking workshop. And Kate said she wished she had been able to attend a similar group after giving birth to her first child, Prince George.

She said, “As a new mum, I would have liked that. I think I would have learned a lot – the importance of play. What’s so fantastic is seeing the amazing work that’s going on here. That support you’re providing is amazing and the science backs it up.”