Kate Middleton was elegant in emerald green as she debuted a new dress on a visit to one of her patronages on Thursday. Delivering a masterclass in classic femininity, the Princess of Wales opted for a tea dress from royal-approved label Suzannah London for the outing to the Anna Freud Centre to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.
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Her brunette hair styled in her signature soft waves, Kate beamed as she stepped out of the car and made her way into Anna Freud’s London headquarters. The organisation brings together research, clinical expertise, and training to build the mental wellbeing of future generations. Building on 70 years’ experience, the charity turns research into practice to give more children and young people the help they need, when they need it.
The Princess of Wales, who became patron of the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families in early 2016, breezed into the engagement in the £2,790 belted, vintage-inspired shirt dress (which she also owns in white), paired with two-tone Alessandra Rich pumps and Accessorize earrings. Suzannah London dressed a number of guests at the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6 May, including the Duchess of Edinburgh and Lady Louise Windsor.
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Kate has worn the white version of the dress on a number of occasions, including to Wimbledon in 2019 and on a visit to Sheffield in 2020. Last year, the then Duchess of Cambridge donned the summer wardrobe staple to a memorial event for the Grenfell Tower disaster. The new version, which is available to pre-order could also become a go-to for the fashionable royal.
In typically hands on fashion, the princess got stuck into the engagement today by taking part in a series of roundtable discussions alongside sector experts, Anna Freud staff and those with lived experience of mental health challenges to discuss how to support the mental wellbeing of current and future generations. Tatler’s Education Editor Tori Cadogan, who is on the Board of Trustees for the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, was among those in attendance.
The young royal looked chic as she took command of a carriage at the event
Kate Middleton also met a group of secondary school students who have been taking part in interactive activities that explore how they deal with their own anxious feelings. Anxiety is the theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, which takes place from 15-21 May.
Following the visit on Thursday, the official Prince and Princess of Wales Instagram account shared a post documenting the visit. ‘Anna Freud does incredible work supporting children, young people and families with their mental wellbeing,’ the post reads. ‘Their new “Let’s Talk About Anxiety” toolkit raises awareness and provides even more access to invaluable coping strategies for managing anxiety. It was lovely to meet with the students who co-created this toolkit, hearing more about what we can all do to look after ourselves this #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek and beyond.’
The cause of improving mental health is one that Kate has championed through her work with the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, as well as by supporting mental health programmes like the launch of Heads Together, Shout 85258, and the Mentally Healthy Schools programme. She is also patron of a number of charities which are focused on promoting and providing mental health support to those in need, including Anna Freud.
In the most significant move to date, in January the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood launched Shaping Us, a long-term campaign which ‘aims to transform the issue of early childhood from one of scientific interest to one of the most strategically important topics of our time’.
It is the second Mental Health Awareness Week engagement for Kate Middleton and comes just a week after she joined her husband Prince William to host a Buckingham Palace Garden Party on behalf of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
