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The Princess of Wales, Catherine, joined by her husband, this evening stepped out for the pre-launch event of the new project of The Royal Foundation Center for Early Years – “Shaping Us” before launching the project nationwide. The Princess of Wales has made the Early years the primary focus of her public life and has been working for more than a decade with charities, organisations, experts, and scientists to learn more about the cause.
The Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood
And now that decade-long journey is touching its next milestone tomorrow when she will be launching a 3 to 5 years Program “Shaping Us” that will engage the medical and academic world to revolutionise thinking for parents, carers and teachers across the world to increase the focus on the first 5 years of childhood and their impact on life.
The Royal couple arrived at BAFTA in London where they were joined by campaign stakeholders, The members of the new advisory group of The Royal Foundation Center for Early childhood and representatives from the early year’s sector. The evening was hosted by The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood and Kate Silverton compered it.
The Princess of Wales, accompanied by her husband, has been to an event at @BAFTA tonight ahead of the launch of Shaping Us, her new campaign to change the way Britain raises its children. pic.twitter.com/uZOB7idLdz
Tonight’s event was the pre-launch for a week of activity which will see which will see an ambitious advertising blitz in cinemas and on billboards the length and breadth of the country (here the Princess of Wales explains more)…. pic.twitter.com/fc345C5mYe
The Princess of Wales gave a landmark speech at the event.
Kensington Palace
Addressing the gathering, Catherine said, “Good evening. Thank you, Amanda, and Lokki once again for that wonderful performance.
This week sees the launch of our new awareness-raising campaign, Shaping Us. The campaign is fundamentally about shining a spotlight on the critical importance of early childhood and how it shapes the adults we become.
During this time we lay the foundations and building blocks for life. It is when we learn to understand ourselves, understand others and understand the world in which we live. This is why it is essential, to not only understand the unique importance of our earliest years but to know what we can all do to help raise future generations of happy, healthy adults.
The Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood
Shaping Us is a long-term campaign, and we’re starting by highlighting how we develop during early childhood and why these years matter so much in terms of shaping who we become. As the campaign progresses, we will explore in more depth the importance of a child’s social and emotional world, the significance of relationships, and the impact of the surroundings and experiences a child is exposed to during these formative years.
Together these play a key role in shaping our future lives. Yet they rarely get as much focus as our physical health and cognitive development. And of course, by understanding our own childhoods – what has shaped our own beliefs, relationships, behaviours and feelings – we, as adults, are better placed to play our part in positively shaping future generations. Those involved in raising children today need the very best of information and support in helping to achieve this mission – and this campaign aims to help do that too.
I want to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to so many of you in this room, for your ongoing work in this area. Thank you for your years of dedication and your unfailing determination to advocate for and improve the lives of the very youngest members of our society. And thank you also to many of you in this room this evening, for your personal support to me in helping me develop my thinking and work on this issue over the years.
As you all know, by building a supportive, nurturing world around children and those caring for them, we can make a huge difference to generations to come. Because fundamentally healthy, happy children shape a healthy, happy future.
The Chief Executive of the Royal FoundationAmanda Berry and the campaign champion and English singer – Rochelle Humes, England women’s football captain – Leah Williamson and broadcaster Fearne Cotton were also among the guest of the evening.
A 90-second animation film charting the experiences of a young girl ‘Layla’from birth to her fifth birthday was screened at the event tonight. It’s a claymation video that features clay figures by Wonderhood Studios and Blinkink to depict the importance of the first five years of a child’s life and the incredible rate at which our brain develops before the age of 5.
The Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood
From the upcoming Friday, the video will be screened at Piccadilly Circus this evening and in cinemas.
Discussing the importance of Early Years, Eamon McCrory, Professor of Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology at University College London and a member of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood’s advisory group, whom The Princess met at Windsor Castle last week, said,
“By ensuring children and parents are supported during this critical period we, as individuals and a society, can positively influence the lives of the next generation for decades to come. We can help close the school attainment gap, giving everyone a fair chance to fulfil their educational potential, we can help children build the capacities and confidence they need to effectively manage challenges and adversity in later life, and we can act in a preventative way to reduce the risk of future mental health problems, so often an underlying factor in complex issues such as addiction and homelessness.”
Kensington Palace
The Princess of Wales with Giovanna Fletcher. Giovanna hosts a popular podcast ‘Happy Mum Happy Baby’.You might remember that Catherine joined her for an episode in 2020. During the event, a Q&A session was held by Eamon McCrory and Dr Guddi Singh, paediatrician and health campaigner.
The campaign is the first milestone event of the Early Years Centre. Catherine wants to make the Early Years a social and political cause that is on par with global issues such as the environment. Shaping Us aims to improve society’s understanding of the significance of early childhood in shaping adulthood and society as a whole. For the whole week, the Campaign will be promoted on billboards across the nation, and on the social media channels of all the famous faces who have lent their support to the cause.
Kensington Palace
The Princess and Prince of Wales at @BAFTA this evening at a reception for the Princess’ #ShapingUs@Earlychildhood campaign. Kate: “The campaign is fundamentally about shining a spotlight on the critical importance of early childhood and how it shapes the adults we become.” pic.twitter.com/XJt5mQStjM
Spearheaded by the Princess of Wales, the new campaign has the support of many high-profile individuals from the worlds of music, media science and sports. Many organisations and individuals working in the early years sector have welcomed the initiative.
Now to What The Princess of Wales wore – Catherine debuted a power suit in red and was looking as always extremely graceful and elegant.
Alexander McQueen Asymmetric blazer
The $2290 blazer was described as, “Sharply tailored following Alexander McQueen’s standards, this blazer is a fashion-forward design. It’s cut from red fabric in an asymmetric silhouette that dips down at the front and is skirted with seamlessly integrated flap pockets.”
Alexander McQueen Women’s Narrow Bootcut Trousers
The $890 trouser was described as, “These bootcut pants from Alexander McQueen exude elegance with their timeless leg-lengthening silhouette; they fit closely through the thighs before flaring out gracefully from the knees. They’re Italian-made from red crêpe.”