On the 24th of February, the Duchess of Cambridge arrived in Edinburgh to carry out her first solo royal engagement in Scotland.
The 34-year-old royal enjoyed a fun-filled day, visiting multiple schools and even managing to engage in some friendly tennis training with none other than Wimbledon champion, Andy Murray’s mother Judy.
She first headed to St Catherine’s Primary School to see the work carried out by the children’s mental health charity, Place2Be, of which she is a patron.
A warm welcome! Kate is greeted with a hand-picked posey.
Place2be patron Catherine meets the children of St Catherine’s Primary School.
Kate was her usual, stylish self as she stepped onto the school grounds in a moss green, recycled MaxMara coat, in which she had previously worn on Christmas Day while attending church in Sandringham.
The mother of Prince George and Princess Charlotte was greeted with the smiling faces of the pupils, and given a bunch of colourful flowers that had been collected by the students in preparation for her arrival.
Sing-a-long!
After the initial greeting, Kate was welcomed inside the school to sit in on the morning assembly. She looked positively radiant as the youngsters sang her a song, and she took the opportunity to join in on the fun, laughing and waving to the children from the front of the class.
School Headmaster, Paul Hunter invited Kate to say a few words.
“Good morning everyone,” said the Duchess. “Everyone should start the day like that! Hope you all have a great day and I look forward to meeting some of you later.”
Place2Be is known as the UK’s leading children’s mental health charity, with a reach of approximately 8,000 children over some of the countries most disadvantaged areas.
Jonathan Wood, national manager for Place2Be in Scotland, thanked Catherine’s efforts to promote the important of support when it comes to mental health. “She’s really helped put children’s mental health on the map,” he noted.
“She wanted to come and see our work in a school, and we’ve worked with St Catherine’s for some time.”
Next on the agenda – a visit to Wester Hailes Education Centre.
After her touching visit to the primary school, the brunette beauty then moved on to visit Wester Hailes Education Centre where another of her charities called ‘The Art Room’ resides.
Kate joined in on the crafts and chatted happily to the pupils as they got to work on their Frida Kahlo art projects.
The charity aims to help kids express themselves through art, thus improving their self-esteem, confidence and ability to work independently and engage with each other on a creative level.
But the day didn’t end there! The mother-of-two made a quick costume change into a $440 pair of Monreal London tracksuit pants, Asics trainers and a white long-sleeved Nike top to attend a tennis coaching session at Craigmount High School from none other than Judy Murray.
Judy, who is the mother to tennis champ and the currently ranked world number 2, Andy Murray, runs a tennis coaching workshop called Tennis On The Road, which aims to increase the games coaching capacity and grow the game from a grassroots level.
The 56-year-old has just become a grandmother to Andy’s baby Sophia Olivia, so naturally, the two women had plenty to talk about.
According to Mrs Murray, Kate can’t wait to start teaching her own little ones the UK’s favourite game!
“She had lots of questions during the session and many, many after the session and that’s a really good sign. She was keen to be able to understand how she could help her children to enjoy sport.
“She was talking about at what age can a child hold a racquet. It’s about strength. I was saying to her with children of George’s age you start with a balloon and the hand. It is about doing the right thing at the right time.” Judy said.
Well, good thing little George and Charlotte have a private court waiting for them in their Norfolk home, Anmer Hall.
Kate shows off her skills on the court.
