“The children I met on my recent trip to Reggio Emilia radiated such qualities. Their innate ability to connect and communicate in all sorts of different ways made me feel immediately welcome, as they accepted a complete stranger with confidence and joy.”
The essay is titled “Creating the conditions for love to flourish through nature and creativity by Catherine, Princess of Wales” and has been published by the Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood.
“The princess emphasised the need to put early childhood on the global agenda, treated with the same urgency and sense of mission as other global challenges like climate change,” says Christian Guy, the Executive Director of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood.
“This essay gives a real insight into how passionately HRH feels about the unique importance of early childhood and its ability to shape society.”
Sources close to the princess described the Italy trip as “taking it up a gear”.
Her return to public life has been carefully managed but the positive response to Catherine in Italy was a reminder that she remains a big draw with public and an important asset to the royal family.
Her team is now looking at other locations which have developed their own approach to helping children in the earliest years of their lives.
This essay gives a clear sense of the direction of travel for the princess when it comes to public duty.
Supporting young families will be the priority. “By allowing children to feel connected from an early age, we can help them carry that sense of balance into adulthood,” the princess writes.
“If healing later in life is about rediscovering our most important connections, then perhaps the real task is to ensure that they are never lost in the first place.”