Kate Middleton visits women’s prison on 24-hour UK tour

The Duchess of Cambridge visited a women’s prison today to meet inmates in the final leg of a three-part tour of Britain in 24 hours as she launches a landmark survey on early childhood development.

Mother-of-three Kate, 38, met current prisoners at HMP Send near Woking, Surrey, and talked to women she met during a previous visit in 2015, who have since been released and are trying to rebuild their families. 

This afternoon, she told a group at the prison who have since been released from custody: ‘It really shocked me when I came here last time how early the challenges were that you face. How early you could take it back.’ 

Today was the third day in a row that Kate or her husband William took the spotlight as the Royal Family carries on with life after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit as senior royals and Harry flew to Canada on Monday night.

Other royals were also hard at work today, with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall meeting patients at Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Sophie, Countess of Wessex meeting members of the armed forces in Sierra Leone. The latter is the sort of trip Harry and Meghan might have done in the past, especially considering their love of Africa.

Kate wore a £349 Massimo Dutti camel coat for her engagements today, teaming it with a polo neck jumper and £30 leopard print skirt from Zara. She also opted for a gold medallion pendant and Accessorise drop earrings.

One Send inmate described their time in prison as one of the best things that had happened to them, crediting the support of Forward Trust programmes. On hearing that, the duchess commented: ‘It’s so often I hear that, why does it have to get to that point before people receive the help and support?’

Returning to the impact early years experiences can have in people, Kate said: ‘I’m hugely passionate about trying to really help get into this crisis, trying to help provide that prevention mechanism and that support system in our communities. Particularly that support in the early years of life.’

Her visit comes as the Duchess of Sussex’s aides revealed in an Instagram post that she made a secret visit to The Mayhew animal welfare charity in Kensal Green, North West London, while in the capital two weeks ago.   

At HMP Send today, Kate heard about the work that the Forward Trust charity does at the prison in supporting inmates to improve their relationships with friends and family, including reconnecting with children.

‘It really shocked me when I came here last time how early the challenges were that you faced,’ the Duchess told a group of ex-offenders, including three women she met in 2015 when they were serving sentences. ‘How early you could take it back.’

In the prison visits hall, sitting around a coffee table with mugs of tea and a cake, the Duchess chatted to five ex-offenders about their childhood traumas – problems with alcoholic or absent parents, family breakdown, domestic abuse – and how they believed it had triggered their offending.

She had similar conversations in a smaller room with four women currently serving sentences at the prison who told her stories about parents splitting up, drink, and drug addiction.

Send is a resettlement prison housing an 80-bed unit that helps women with rehabilitation, building skills and confidence. The women she met had been through a 12-step drug treatment created by The Forward Trust, which works in 25 prisons across Britain.

One current prisoner, Francesca, told Kate that she got on drugs and started offending after her loving parents split up.

At Send with the Forward Trust programme she has started to resolve many of her issues going back to childhood. ‘What they have done here has literally changed my life. It’s a miracle,’ she said.

She added: ‘Coming to jail is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.’

The Duchess smiled and said: ‘It’s so often I hear that. Why does it have to get to that point before people receive the help and support?’

She told the women: ‘I’m hugely passionate about trying to really help get into this crisis trying to help provide that prevention mechanism and that support system in our communities. Particularly that support in the early years of life.’

Among the ex-offenders she met was Julie Muir, who now works as head of recovery at The Forward Trust. She became addicted to drugs after family problems when she was a teenager.

She was in and out of custody for drugs offences as a juvenile before being jailed for three years when she was 21 in 2001. She served time in Send.

‘I spent my 21st birthday in prison. That was a wake up for me,’ she said.

Asked why most people ended up committing crimes and going to jail, she replied: ‘Childhood trauma. It’s all to do with trauma in the early years – parents separating, domestic abuse, addiction, children not being given the right emotional tools,’ she said.

‘We need more support for parents, more counselling services.’

When she asked the earlier group of ex-offenders how much of their problems they put down to their childhood, at least three of the women – Hayley Wood, Kerrie Peters, and Kirsty Day – replied in unison: ‘All of it.’

The prison, which has an 80-bed resettlement unit, aims to build women’s skills, improve their self-esteem and look at reasons behind offending, as well as helping them to gain vocational qualifications and work experience.

Earlier today, Kate pulled faces and smiled at babies in Cardiff as she attended a sensory class at the Ely and Careau Children’s Centre and heard about the support that parents receive.

She spoke about her experience of being ‘isolated’ as a first-time mother, as she recalled living in Anglesey in North Wales when Prince George was a ‘tiny baby’ and William was a RAF Search and Rescue helicopter pilot.

While visiting the children’s centre, Kate told a group: ‘I had a tiny, tiny baby in the middle of Anglesey it was so isolated, so cut off. I didn’t have any family around and he was doing night shifts.’ 

The centre provides support services to children and their families and helps youngsters with special needs in addition to offering adult education, parenting support and community education teams.

Open access play, breakfast, after-school activities and holiday clubs are also housed in the centre, as well as health visitors, speech and language therapists and partners such as Sure Start and Language and Play.

The centre also works with community partners such as the Salvation Army and Barnardo’s. Kate, who will also visit Surrey this afternoon, hopes her new initiative will trigger ‘lasting change for generations’. 

She kicked off her solo tour in Birmingham yesterday, but there was a minor hiccup in a children’s play cafe when the door of a cupboard under a sink came off in her hands. Kate joked: ‘I think we’ve broken the cafe.’

Kate was raising awareness of the poll Five Big Questions on the Under Fives. 

She was also due to make a visit to promote the survey in London today, but this was cancelled due to weather conditions affecting her travel plans.

Speaking at Birmingham’s science museum yesterday, she said: ‘As a parent, I know how much we cherish the future health and happiness of our children. 

‘I want to hear the key issues affecting families and communities so I can focus my work on where it is needed most. My ambition is to provide lasting change for generations to come.’

Kate got a tour of an interactive, child-sized mini-city at the Thinktank museum by ‘mini mayor’ Poppy Jordan, eight. Children showed her their workshop before popping into the launderette, a shop and a mini-museum.

The duchess said: ‘Parents, carers and families are at the heart of caring for children in the formative years, so that is why I really want to listen to them. The early years are more crucial for future health and happiness than any other moment in our lifetime.’

Kate wore a new gold bracelet yesterday from a company with three royal warrants. She flashed an elegant gold bangle on her right wrist as she visited Birmingham, which was identified as a product by UK brand Halcyon Days.

The label is stocked by luxury retailers including Harrods and boasts royal warrants from the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles. Kate was wearing a £110 Gold Plated Maya Torque Bangle.

Meanwhile, at St James’s Palace, her husband William called for help to end the ‘abhorrent’ illegal wildlife trade at a meeting of the United For Wildlife taskforces.

The Duke of Cambridge said it had been an ‘encouraging’ year of seizures and investigations. But he warned: ‘There are still too many criminals who know they can find a market and believe they can act with impunity.’

The Duchess described the early years development of children as life’s most ‘crucial’ moment for ‘future health and happiness’ as she launched the landmark national survey about the issue.

Kate has made the subject one of the main pillars of her public work and has travelled around Britain to highlight her ambitious project to ask ‘five big questions on the under fives’ which will guide her future work.

The online poll, conducted by Ipsos Mori on behalf of the Royal Foundation, is thought to be the biggest survey of its kind and aims to encourage a nationwide conversation on early childhood.

Kate has established a steering group of experts, which first met in May 2018, to look at early years – and they have been considering how the duchess and her Royal Foundation can help improve the outcomes for youngsters.

The duchess’s survey will run for a month, from January 21 to February 21, and will ask those taking the poll five questions to gauge their views about early years.

During the visit, Kate also met Giovanna Fletcher, behind the Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast, who has also written about being a mother to three children with husband Tom Fletcher, a member of the band McFly.

Jasmine Norris, assistant nursery manager at St Paul’s Nursery in the Balsall Heath area of Birmingham, brought eight of her children to the event and chatted to the duchess.

She said: ‘I think early years is vital, incredibly important. I think we help the children to move on into their future education, and their lives. We want them to be the best they can be – we want to prepare them for life.’

David Holmes, chief executive of Family Action, which helps families in need and has Kate as its royal patron, joined the duchess at her launch event.

He said: ‘Every parent, carer and family wants the best for their child, and raising the profile of the vital early years in a child’s life is work of national importance.

‘The insight from this survey will give the early years sector valuable direction in designing and delivering services and support which reflect what matters most to people.  

Kate’s brother-in-law Prince Harry joined Meghan and Archie in Canada on Monday night after arriving on a WestJet plane on Vancouver Island as they prepare to live a more private life.

Meghan’s aides revealed today that she visited The Mayhew centre in Kensal Green, North West London, two weeks ago to hear about the ‘incredible progress made throughout the festive period’.

The Sussex Royal Instagram account posted two photographs this morning of her during a visit to the centre, where she has been a patron for a year.

The timing of the post was noted by several people commenting on the post, with Liyana Ali saying: ‘Someone is so insecure that every time the Cambridges or Kate is out for an important engagement they’ve posted on the exact same day. Coincidence?’

Another, @xmaurxx, said: ‘So you had these pictures for almost a month but released them during the release of Kate’s project? Interesting.’

And a third, @p_hello123, posted: ‘Hmm. The timing of this post, even though the visit has passed already, is very interesting.’

Harry arrived in Canada hours after meeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson and world leaders at the UK-Africa Investment Summit in South East London, in one of his few remaining official royal engagements. 

The duke gave an emotional speech in London on Sunday night, saying he had ‘no other option’ but to give up his official royal duties and forge a new life in Canada.

In the speech in London, Harry told invited guests: ‘What I want to make clear is we’re not walking away, and we certainly aren’t walking away from you.  

‘Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth and my military associations, but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.’

The Sussexes had wanted to remain as working royals, although not prominent members, and drop their public funding to become financially independent. 

However, critics have accused the couple of turning their backs on the monarchy to enjoy the freedom of being able to take on commercial ventures.

Meanwhile in Switzerland today, Prince Charles will launch a project to help financial markets become more sustainable during a visit to the World Economic Forum. 

Charles will highlight his Sustainable Markets Council during a brief visit to the Swiss resort town of Davos. He will then travel on to Israel and Palestine for an official trip.