Kate in September 2018

Today Kensington Palace tweeted something royal fans and royal watchers were waiting for eagerly. The Duchess of Cambridge is resuming her royal duties on next Tuesday with a visit to Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden at Paddington Recreation Ground.

The Palace tweet sends twitter into a frenzy. Duchess who started her maternity leave in March after a day full of engagements with Prince William has seen the only handful of times during the last 6 months. The visit will officially end Catherine’s maternity leave.

Duchess’s visit to Sayers Croft Forest School and Wildlife Garden aims to see first-hand the positive impact that the Forest School has on children’s emotional and physical wellbeing as she will be shown the wildlife garden and will meet children involved in exploratory and investigative outdoor activities.’

Sayers Croft is a residential activity centre based in Surrey, which is owned by Westminster City Council. It aims to involve children and the local community in the environment, providing outdoor facilities for those who may otherwise be unable to access them. In London, they have worked with Westminster City Council and Ruth Willmott Associates to create a Wildlife Garden, with an edible garden area and a Forest Garden.

Catherine will visit both of these areas and join Forest School sessions in each location. She will meet instructors and teachers and hear about the beneficial effect of being outdoor have on children.

Even though Duchess is coming back, it is believed that the workload will not be as much as it was before maternity leave because Duchess would like to keep her focus on her young kids especially Prince Louis who is just 5 months old.

Still October will be a month where Duchess is expected to make few official appearances that may include World Mental Health Day coincides with the Mental Health Summit from October 10 to October 13, Princess Eugenie’s wedding that is on October 12, the Dutch State Visit that will take place on October 23 and 24 and Prince Charles’ 70th Birthday celebration event on October 25.

Also today Place2Be, a patronage of Duchess, announced it’s teaming up with Literacy Trust, that is Duchess of Cornwall Camilla’s patronage, to create free literacy and well-being teaching resources for primary schools, secondary schools and parents after a research that shows children who enjoy reading are three times more likely to have good mental well-being than children who don’t enjoy reading. The full report can be read here. I hope to see Catherine and Camilla together sometimes in future to promote this joint venture.

It was always a public knowledge that the Duchess of Cambridge is a family girl. A simple middle-class English girl with grounded upbringing. Catherine is super close to her family. Since coming into the limelight, her family has never over-stepped the boundary and respected the Royal Family by remaining discreet and loyal to Catherine and William both.

Apart from family, Catherine has few friends who have been part of her life for a long time. Although Duchess has a very public life her friends always stayed away from the media and public attention. The close-knit group of a few people who are fiercely protective of Catherine and William’s life never spoke publicly about them.

Their loyalty and protectiveness was the biggest reason behind William and Catherine choosing most of their friends as God Parents to their three kids. Today I am going to talk about Catherine’s female squad. Her family and friends that have been with her for most of her life.

Carole Middleton

Catherine’s mother Carole Middleton is a strong woman with strong family values. Born in the middle-class family, Carole worked as a flight attendant in British Airways before starting her own party supply business ‘Party Pieces’ in 1987. The Middleton Matriarch is fiercely protective of her all three children and plays a big role in Cambridge household. After giving birth to her first child Prince George in 2013, Catherine turned to her mother for support and moved to Middleton Manor for a few weeks. It was reported that after seeing how close Catherine is to her family and what a wonderful family environment Middleton Household has, William promised to make sure that Middleton family will always be in the front row when it comes to his own family and he kept his promise.

Pippa Middleton

Catherine’s younger sister Pippa is one of her first close confidantes. with the difference of just 20 months, Catherine and Pippa are more than a sister. Both sisters share wardrobes to secrets. Pippa once during an interview said, ” We spend a lot of time together. We still do a lot together as a family. And I think that’s really the heart for all of us is having a really close family that we can sort of be normal with each other, treat each other normally. And that’s sort of kept us all, you know, affixed to the ground.”

Pippa herself is expecting her first child with husband James Matthews in October this year. Prince George and Princess Charlotte were Page boy and Flower girl at their Aunts wedding in 2017.

Emilia Jardine-Paterson

Emilia Jardine-Paterson is a common friend of both William and Catherine. She is William’s teenage friend and met Catherine at Marlborough College. When William and Catherine broke up in 2007, Emilia reportedly accompanied Catherine to Ibiza to help her overcome the heartbreak.

An Interior designer by profession, Emilia helped Catherine in the renovation of Kensington Palace Apartment and Anmer Hall. Emilia is married to David Jardine-Paterson, William’s Eton Contemporary. Willliam and Catherine chose Emilia as Prince George’s Godmother in 2013.

Sophie Carter

Sophie Carter is friends with Catherine for more than a decade. She was first seen publicly with Duchess in 2008 at Wimbledon. Later on, Catherine penned a letter to the Club stating,  “My friend and I had such a fantastic time and it was great to be able to enjoy the day knowing we could have a little peace and quiet if things got too hectic.”

Part of  Cambridges’ incredibly close-knit circle of friends in Norfolk, Sophie was seen at Church Service with Royal and Middleton Family in 2017, at Catherine’s birthday bashes in Norfolk. Sophie dated William’s close-friend Thomas van Straubenzee. Both Sophie and Thomas are Princess Charlotte’s Godparents. In September 2018, Sophie married Somerset-born Robert Snuggs at which Prince George was a page boy and Princess Charlotte was a flower girl.

Trini Foyle

Trini Foyle is also Catherine’s school friend. They met at Marlborough College and since then she is friends with Catherine. Trini was seen with Catherine regularly in 2007 when William and Catherine broke up.

Trini was also seen having strolls in Kensington Garden with Catherine. She was among the friends sitting in royal box watching Cirque du Soleil in 2014 at Catherine’s birthday when Catherine was expecting her first child.

Hannah Gillingham Carter

How Marlborough College made a big part of Duchess’ life it shows from her friend list. Duchess’ another close friend is Hannah Gillingham Carter whom Catherine met at Marlborough. Hannah is married to Duchess’ another friend Sophie’s brother Robert Carter. Another amusing fact is the couple tied the knot in 2012 on Duke and Duchess’ first wedding anniversary. Hannah is Prince Louis’ Godmother.

Alicia Fox-Pitt

A loyal friend of Catherine’s from her Marlborough College days, Alicia Fox-Pitt shares Duchess’ love of everything sports. in 2007, when William was finding out how much he loves Catherine, Catherine joined a famous Sisterhood rowing team, which planned to cross the Channel for charity via Alicia Fox-Pitt.

Apart from having her own friend squad, Catherine is also very close to William’s notably close group that includes a Straubenzee brother, Guy Pelly, Mr and Mrs Meade, Oliver Baker.