Kate makes appearance at conference hosted by the Anna Freud National Centre

[Kritter]

Duchess of Cambridge makes surprise appearance at conference hosted by the Anna Freud National Centre ? Royal Central

The Duchess of Cambridge made a surprise appearance at the ?Improving young people?s mental resilience and wellbeing: Learning from HeadStart? conference today in London at the Amnesty International UK Human Rights Action Centre. The conference was hosted by the Duchess?s patronage, The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families (AFNCCF).

Plans for Her Royal Highness?s appearance had been in the works for a while, but Kensington Palace did not want to announce the low key engagement ahead of time. A source explained to Royal Central that Catherine ? is really keen to learn? and added that, for that reason, they chose to keep it secret until after she had left the conference. The Duchess wanted to learn without the glare of the media spotlight and wanted the focus to be on the conference itself.

Someone has told Kate she is going to have to work.   :hmm:  Or Meghan is marrying Harry & she needs some attention.   :teehee:

[wannable]

All royals have done and still do low key aka secret visits every year, including Kate, this is not her first or last low key visit.

[TLLK]

I agree @wannable that sometimes that the low  key visits keeps the focus upon the actual event even though we now know that she'd always planned on attending. (I know  that the late Juliana of the Netherlands was an advocate  of these types of visits and her descendants continue them to this day.)Also considering the heightened security state in the UK and Europe, that it likely pleased those in charge of the conference's safety issues  to have her visit be unannounced ahead of the event.

Plans for Her Royal Highness?s appearance had been in the works for a while, but Kensington Palace did not want to announce the low key engagement ahead of time. A source explained to Royal Central that Catherine ? is really keen to learn? and added that, for that reason, they chose to keep it secret until after she had left the conference. The Duchess wanted to learn without the glare of the media spotlight and wanted the focus to be on the conference itself.

Details of the conference have been online for a while, and no doubt, another reason for secrecy was security.

?Improving young people?s mental resilience and wellbeing: Learning from HeadStart? was focused on the HeadStart programme funded by the Big Lottery and was the first in a series in collaboration between the AFNCCF and the Big Lottery. HeadStart, five-year National Lottery funded programme, is a massive, multimillion pound mental health research and intervention scheme. AFNCCF has said on their website that it was ?set up by the Big Lottery Fund to give young people aged 10- to 16-years-old the tools they need to overcome life?s challenges and prevent serious mental-health issues from developing. Six local authority led HeadStart partnerships based in Blackpool, Cornwall, Hull, Kent, Newham and Wolverhampton are designing new approaches to providing support when and where it is needed, focusing on developing young people?s emotional resilience from an early age.

Glad to see that there is collaboration between the AFNCCF and Big Lottery to help fund programs for those young students who require some intervention and support.

[Kritter]

Meghan has forced Kate out of her hidey hole.    :happy18:

[wannable]

Kate Middleton visits Anna Freud centre  | Daily Mail Online
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2018/01/11/14/4805444100000578-5258467-image-a-1_1515681823957.jpg