Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, has long been committed to her Early Years work – with historians now discovering she is following in the footsteps of an ancestor with a similar passion
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Kate Middleton often pays tribute to her roots. From the acorn design of her wedding day earrings, a nod to her family crest, to her decision to raise George, Charlotte, and Louis to appreciate the outdoors in the way that she did growing up alongside her siblings, James and Pippa. Now, it has been revealed that the Princess of Wales has inherited a striking similarity to one of her relatives, whose commitment to early years education bears an uncanny resemblance to the future queen’s lifelong mission.
Catherine has referred to childhood education as a ‘sacred opportunity’ to ‘transform our societies for the better’. Through her Royal Foundation for Early Childhood – described as her ‘life’s work’ – the Princess of Wales has reached over half a million young people.
It is a mission and a message she shares with Anne Lupton, the sister of the royal’s great-grandmother, Olive Middleton. A prominent campaigner for housing and a staunch advocate for the importance of children’s social education, Kate’s ancestor set up the London Housing Centre in 1935. In another twist of fate, Lupton, who also went by Muriel, rubbed shoulders with the royal family that her descendant would one day marry into, welcoming George V, Queen Mary, Edward VIII and the Queen Mother to the Centre.
In an interview with The Yorkshire Post in March 1935, Lupton espoused the importance of early years education, with a message that certainly foreshadows the Princess of Wales. ‘If you bring your children up in a nursery school between the ages of two and five and teach them to look after flowers and plants and pretty things instead of destroying them,’ she said, ‘then your housing estates will be very much more attractive than if the children grow up like hooligans.’