A little fresh air! Duchess Kate secretly joined families from East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) in Norfolk to plant a sensory garden at the Nook Center, one of the charity’s purpose-built hospices.
The Duchess of Cambridge, 38, arrived at the facility on Thursday, June 25, with plants that she personally picked out at the Fakenham Garden Centre one week earlier. Kate worked with a volunteer gardener, staff at the facility and two EACH families “to help create a space that would provide enjoyment for children and families, using sensory plants such as lavender, bay and rosemary,” Kensington Palace said in a statement.
EACH’s hospice sensory areas provide tools to relax children who are unable to speak and provides them with other methods of communication. Kate has been a patron of EACH, which provides support for families and their children with life-threatening conditions, since 2012.
Her visit marked the end of Children’s Hospice Week, which aims to raise funds for children’s hospices in the U.K. Kate commemorated the occasion with an open letter to hospice staff and to the families that need their services.
“The care and the nurture that you provide children and families in the most unimaginable circumstances is just awe inspiring,” she wrote. “I’d also like to pay tribute to all those families out there who are caring for and looking after a child with a life-limiting illness. You do the most extraordinary job and I know it’s particularly hard at the moment so my thoughts go out to you all.”
According to the Sun, Kate revealed during her visit that two of her children inherited their mother’s green thumb.
“The children are really enjoying growing their sunflowers, Louis’ is winning so George is a little grumpy about that,” she said. Kate and her husband, Prince William, share Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 5, and Prince Louis, 2.
The royal couple have been adjusting to the struggles of homeschooling amid the coronavirus quarantine. The Duke of Cambridge, 38, opened up about the challenges they’ve faced in the new BBC documentary Football, Prince William and Mental Health.
“Homeschooling is fun, isn’t it?” William joked. “You start to worry about how little you remember from your school days when you can’t do the maths questions at home.”
Scroll down to see photos from Kate’s visit to EACH.