11-02-2025
Kate Middleton Visits a Prison Mother and Baby Unit
The Princess of Wales has visited a women's prison as she resumes her public duties following cancer treatment last year. Kate, 43, today met with prisoners, staff and former residents of the Mother and Baby unit at HMP Styal in the north west of England. Kensington Palace said the visit was intended 'to highlight the importance of strong, loving and consistent mother and baby relationships to a child's development, even in the most challenging of environments.'
The Princess arrived at the prison this afternoon where she was scheduled to visit the on-site nursery, meet a group of current prisoners and hear about the support provided by the unit, including targeted interventions and parenting support. The unit is run by the charity Action for Children, which Kate became Patron of in 2016, taking over from Queen Elizabeth.
'Action for Children runs three MBUs inside prisons in the North of England, all of which provide a dedicated place for new and expectant mothers serving a prison sentence or on remand,' Kensington Palace said in a statement about the visit. "Prisoners live in a separate area of the prison and are supported to care for their babies by trained prison staff and early years and family support practitioners. The aim of the MBU is to establish and maintain a strong bond between mother and child, in line with evidence that a key psychological process of attachment takes place between babies and their primary caregiver in the initial months of life, which influences later development.'
The visit feeds into Kate's long-standing interest in raising awareness of the importance of early childhood. She was been working in this area for more than a decade, setting up the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in 2021.
This is Kate's second official engagement of the month as she gradually returns to work in 2025. Last week, she joined school children on a trip to the National Portrait Gallery, arriving with them on a Might Also Like
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