We are all fortunate if we can find our passion work—work that sets our soul on fire and helps us fulfill our purpose. The Princess of Wales has found hers in early years development and children’s mental health, launching The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, focusing on the first five years of children’s lives and those years’ importance to our overall development, and kicking off her “Shaping Us” campaign, which raises awareness for the importance of those early years. This isn’t performative work—this is truly her life’s work—and as a result, social media has taken to calling her “The Children’s Princess,” a derivative of her late mother-in-law Princess Diana’s nickname of “The People’s Princess,” The Mirror reports. (Diana, the outlet writes, was first given that moniker in 1992, five years before her untimely death at 36 in 1997.)
“The Princess of Wales is proving yet again why she is The Children’s Princess,” one social media user wrote, per The Mirror. “She loves working with and working for children. Catherine is wonderful and I’m excited to see the things she will do in the future.” Ahead of Children’s Mental Health Week, another social media user wrote “I can’t wait to see what the Princess of Wales, known as a Children’s Princess, has in store for us on #childrensmentalhealthweek next week.”
Catherine, upon launching “Shaping Us,” described the initiative as her “life’s work,” saying “it is more important than ever” to support the development of young children: “The way we develop, through our experiences, relationships, and surroundings during our early childhood, fundamentally shapes our whole lives,” she said. “It affects everything from our ability to form relationships and thrive at work to our mental and physical well-being as adults and the way we parent our own children.”
She continued “These are the most preventative years. By focusing on our collective time, energy, and resources to build a supportive, nurturing world around the youngest members of our society and those caring for them, we can make a huge difference to the health and happiness of generations to come.”
Of the initiative, she concluded “All of society has a role to play in this, even if you are not directly involved in a child’s life, because we are all responsible for building a more compassionate world in which our children can grow, learn, and live. In these difficult times, it more important than ever to help support parents and caregivers provide loving, safe, and secure homes for their babies and young children to survive.”
Catherine, her husband Prince William, and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis are currently on summer holiday, ahead of the kids’ return to school at Lambrook on September 6. A traditional visit to Balmoral is expected before the kids’ return to school and William and Catherine’s return to work, where one of their first tasks is leading public tributes for Queen Elizabeth to mark the first anniversary of her death on September 8 at age 96.
