Duchess Kate gives first speech after cancer diagnosis

Duchess Kate is taking the next step in her mission to give children the best possible start in life.

Giving her first speech since revealing her cancer diagnosis to the world in March 2024, the 43-year-old Princess of Wales discussed the Royal Foundation’s Early Childhood Business Taskforce at the Future Workforce Summit during a visit to London’s CBD on Tuesday, November 18.

At the event, Duchess Kate met with businesses to encourage policies that support parents and carers of children under five. What started as a personal quest for how to better support families has spread into the business world in recent years.

On Tuesday, Kate, wearing a business-ready gray pantsuit, gathered more than 80 business leaders to hear from experts in human development and early childhood. Her goal is to make society healthier and happier, and to inspire change from the beginning.

BBC News broadcaster Mishal Hussain, who interviewed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle when they announced their engagement in 2017, anchored the morning and moderated the panel, introducing Duchess Kate.

After thanking those who attended, the Duchess said she hoped people found it “interesting and insightful” and thanked Christian Guy, director of the Royal Foundation Early Childhood Centre.

“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Christian for leading the center and forging so many relationships here today. I especially thank Christian for holding the fort over the past few years,” Duchess Kate said, referring to her step back from royal life to focus on her cancer treatment and recovery. She completed treatment in September 2024 and announced she was in remission earlier this year.

“My passion and the work of the Early Childhood Education Center stem from one essential truth: the love we feel in childhood fundamentally shapes who we become and how we grow as adults,” she added in her speech.

“Love is the first and most important bond. But it is also the invisible thread through which time, attention, and tenderness are woven through consistent, nurturing relationships that create a grounded and meaningful environment around the child,” she argued. “It is this texture, this weave of love, that forms and grounds a child’s emotional world, and becomes the very fabric of resilience and belonging.”

Kate said: “A home should be a space where love, security and rhythm allow a child to thrive,” adding: “A loving home ultimately teaches us how to love and care, but every environment has the potential to shape our hearts.”

“Each of you interacts with your environment: your home, your family, your business, your workforce, your community. These are your own ecosystems. Imagine a world in which each of these environments was built to value your time and kindness as much as it does your productivity and success,” the Princess of Wales continued.

He asserted that business leaders “will face the daily challenge of finding a balance between profitability and positive impact,” adding, “but the two are not and should not be mutually exclusive.”

Speaking about her organization, which was launched in June 2021, Kate said: “At early childhood education centres, we believe we must do everything in our power to create an environment where love grows. That’s how we invest in our future.”

“Every child deserves respect and safety, and every caregiver deserves recognition and appreciation. Every act of care creates community because we are all essentially weavers of the same fabric,” she continued. “As we strive to build happier and healthier societies, I believe it is important to restore dignity to the quiet, invisible work of caring and loving.”

“You’re here because you care. Thank you,” she concluded.

Duchess Kate’s latest speech comes after her Royal Center for Early Childhood Education hosted experts from around the world at the Shaping Us National Symposium at the Design Museum in central London in November 2023.

Tuesday’s summit highlighted how companies investing early can play a critical role in developing the unique human skills that tomorrow’s workforce will need to thrive. Through these initiatives, The Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation Early Childhood Education Taskforce aims to reach more than one million babies and young children by 2026.

The Princess of Wales stayed at the event for more than an hour longer than planned to hear journalist and broadcaster Mr Hussein moderate a conversation with former England football manager Sir Gareth Southgate and research psychologist Professor Mark Blackett. The summit also featured sessions with Harvard University professor Robert Waldinger and psychotherapist and author Philippa Perry.

Dame Amanda Blanc, chief executive of insurance company Aviva, told the gathering: “What His Royal Highness is asking of us is very different from what has been asked of the business world to date. We are being asked to look at the fundamentals of how we operate, to think about how we manage our people and to understand how we can support them beyond traditional approaches.”

“We need to act now as business leaders. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has made a great request of us, and we have chosen to respond to it. And that request is not a charitable one. It’s also about wider communities and communities. Fundamentally, this is not just about responsibility, it’s also about opportunity. We have an opportunity today to build a more caring and productive workforce and develop a resilient and skilled workforce for tomorrow.”

He added: “All children deserve a safe and happy start in life and the opportunity to reach their full potential. But too many children today have their future prospects limited by the challenges they face in their early years.”

She cited a report that described the benefits of investing in early childhood, saying it could add tens of billions of dollars to the economy by providing the workforce of tomorrow with strong emotional and social skills and creating a “healthier, more resilient workforce of today.”

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Through a series of new initiatives, the taskforce is already encouraging major companies, from Ikea to big banks to the UK’s grocer co-ops, to launch programs to better support parents and support children’s development. The foundation says these efforts have already reached 500,000 infants and young children.

New initiatives include British grocer Iceland; To help our 30,000 staff better support young families, we have introduced ’emoji posters’ in all our stores. The company has also partnered with parent network Mumsnet to launch a range of toddler meals, raising funds for Liverpool’s Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and promoting healthy eating. NatWest Bank is increasing financing for early childhood education facilities such as kindergartens, helping them operate more sustainably.

The summit follows the Princess of Wales’ 2023 report, which highlighted that prioritizing and investing in early childhood is not only the right thing to do, but also smart economics.

On Wednesday, November 19, Duchess Kate and her husband Prince William, also 43, will head out in the evening to attend the annual Royal Variety Performance in London. Next month, the couple will host a state visit by the German president, along with King Charles and Queen Camilla.