Related Articles
The Princess of Wales displayed her caring side again today as she showed a young girl at a trauma therapy centre how to hear the sea in a shell – before joining teenage girls for rugby drills and joining a mental health group on an outdoor walk.
Kate spoke to therapists at Family Action in Bradford this morning, a charity which helps children and their families recover from complex trauma.
She also joined creative therapy sessions – talking to children about collage trees and wish boxes – to understand how the use of play can be a vehicle for healing.
Kate spent the day visiting several organisations in the North of England to highlight the power of creativity, community and nature for those who have experienced trauma, isolation and poor mental health.
She has long championed mental health causes and emphasised how nature had helped her ‘heal’ from cancer treatment in a video series most recently released on her 44th birthday.
Her engagements across the North also saw her visit Wakefield Trinity’s ground, where she praised the club’s ‘gold dust’ support for its local community.
At the club, she met schoolgirls being put through their rugby paces, pensioners taking part in a quiz and teenagers at risk of being excluded from school.
The future queen, who is patron of the Rugby Football League, was wearing a smart jacket and trousers for the visit.
Kate Middleton is all smiles as she greets members of the public and is seen with flowers as she leaves Wakefield rugby club today
Princess Kate, patron of Family Action, teaches a young girl how to hear the sea in a shell during a visit to the charity’s Children’s Trauma Therapy Service in Bradford
She later joined a wellbeing walk in the Peak District with Mind Over Mountains, which offers mental health support through outdoor experiences
This meant her participation was limited to chatting to girls during a break from their skills session for Wakefield’s Champion Schools competition – rather than getting stuck into the drills themselves.
Kate was quizzed about Princess Charlotte’s school activities as she stood beside the pitch in freezing temperatures, telling the young players: ‘She does loads of sport but not rugby.’
She also joked with the group about the physicality of rugby league, saying: ‘There’s not any other sport when you can say contact is a good thing.’
During the visit Kate sat down with a group of Wakefield supporters aged from their 60s to their 90s who are regulars at In Touch events run by Wakefield Trinity’s Community Foundation, the Super League club’s charitable arm.
The sessions help elderly people at risk of loneliness to socialise.
The princess told them: ‘I love this, the league game is so embedded in community life and it’s so grassroots (and) interaction, and getting youngsters involved but also how clubs like this connect to the rest of the community.
‘They’re absolute gold dust really, and I’m so proud to help support the league across the country.’
She was even given a Wakefield shirt, prompting captain – and England player – Mike McMeeken to joke: ‘Now she has a Wakefield Trinity shirt she is an honorary member of the club!’
Following the visit to Wakefield she tied her hair in a plait and donned a newsboy-style cap for a walk in the hills with Mind Over Mountains, a charity offering professional mental health support through therapeutic outdoor experiences
It rounded off the day that began with the visit to Family Action, of which she is a patron.
The Princess of Wales waves as she arrives at Wakefield Trinity Stadium on January 27, 2026 – with her hair down
She later changed into practical walking boots, bottoms, a wax jacket and a newsboy-style cap for her walk in the hills – even putting her hair in a plait
The princess was dressed for the weather as she joined the hillwalk, which came in the hours after Storm Chandra had hit Britain
Kate headed out to the pitch to join a skills session with girls from Wakefield’s Champion schools competition
She could barely conceal her smile as she chatted with teenagers taking part in the contest – opting not to take part in the drills in her smart jacket and trousers
The princess waves to Royal fans as she leaves Wakefield Trinity Rugby League club on January 27, 2026
The charity provides practical, emotional, and financial support to families who are facing poverty, disadvantage, and isolation nationwide.
Their children’s trauma therapy service in Bradford works with children who have experienced abuse, neglect or a traumatic bereavement.
She said to staff at the centre: ‘It’s probably been a lifeline for them in so many ways and being able to extend that umbilical cord support – the fact that you’re able to continue that relationship with them.’
Kate joined a therapy session for a mother and her 12-year-old son who had been colouring in leaves to put on a collage tree, designed to help children illustrate their feelings and discuss their therapy journey.
The boy said how music had helped him process difficult emotions and that he now played drums in a band.
Kate said: ‘That’s a fantastic way to sort of express yourself and also manage really difficult and hard feelings that are sometimes harder to express with words than in any other way.’
She asked if he had ever thought he would play in a band.
He replied: ‘No. If you said it to me three years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you because I wouldn’t have thought I had the attention span for it.’
Kate then met a mother and her five-year-old daughter who were decorating a box of wishes, in which they had added items to help them express their feelings.
The princess greeted the girl by crouching down and holding her hand, before complimenting her leopard print dress.
‘I like your dress. That’s a pretty dress and your shoes, I have boots like that but they don’t have glitter on sadly. Are they your favourite boots?’ she said.
Kate joined creative therapy sessions at the centre in Bradford where she spoke to children about collage trees and wish boxes
The princess is visiting organisations in the North of England to highlight the power of creativity, community and nature for those who have experienced trauma, isolation and poor mental health
Kate talks to a girl who was decorating a box and filling it with items, including a shell. The Princess of Wales said to her: ‘Sometimes when you put it to your ear, you can hear waves. That’s what I like doing with shells’
Kate joined a therapy session for a mother and her 12-year-old son who had been colouring in leaves to put on a collage tree
The princess greeted a girl by crouching down and holding her hand, before complimenting her leopard print dress
The girl had put a small pot of glitter and water into the box, which she called her ‘potion’.
Asked what the potion did, she said ‘it keeps away the bad dreams’. Kate told the girl’s mother that ‘lots of people need more of these’.
The girl had also put in a feather – which, her therapist said was to keep her ‘busy head’ ‘nice and calm’ – as well as two shells in the box.
Kate said to her: ‘Sometimes when you put it to your ear, you can hear waves. That’s what I like doing with shells.’
She then asked: ‘Have you enjoyed coming here to do these things with mummy? What have you enjoyed about it?
‘Is it being able to play together? And talk about some of the things that you find difficult?’
Later, the girl’s mother joked: ‘I think she was more excited about seeing Esther [her therapist].’
Kate clutches a bouquet of flowers as she greets Royal fans during a visit to Wakefield Trinity Stadium. The princess is Patron of the Rugby Football League
Kate was at the club to learn about its extensive outreach programmes, which bring generations together, tackle loneliness, and provide meaningful support for individuals experiencing isolation within the community
Kate is pictured here walking into the stadium with RFL’s Director of Performance and Development Marc Lovering
The princess sits in the dugout alongside a group of schoolboys during a visit to Wakefield Trinity Stadium
Catherine is pictured here sat longside Molly Fox, the wife of Wakefield Trinity legend Peter Fox
Stuart Murray-Borbjerg, senior therapist, said of Princess Kate: ‘She seemed genuinely interested to hear about the family’s experience of the service and the impact of it.’
He explained the importance of ‘non-verbal approaches to therapy’ using tools like art, music and movement to express feelings when language fails.
‘Something that’s lost through traumatic experiences is that sense of playfulness and joy which just comes back when you’re making music or you’re drawing together,’ he said.
‘[It’s] something the princess said too – that kind of gets lost as adults but George keeps her playful. I think she said one [of her children] plays the guitar and one plays the drums.’
Source link
