Kate in Hot Pink Mulberry Coat for South London Visits, Prince William Says “Not Long Now”

The Duchess opted for her hot pink Mulberry coat today as she joined William for several engagements in South London.

The morning’s first stop was at the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust. The Trust was started as a legacy to a young man named Stephen Lawrence, whose murder in the early 90’s was a notorious hate crime. More from the Trust’s website:

Tragically, at the age of 18 on 22nd April 1993, Stephen was murdered in an unprovoked racist attack. He didn’t know his killers and his killers didn’t know him. To this date, only two of the five perpetrators have been put in prison for his murder.

Below you see the Duke and Duchess being welcomed to the Centre by Stephen’s mother, Doreen Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE.

The Centre opened in 2008; more from the organization’s website:

It is a place for community learning and social research, inspiring and motivating young people. She (Doreen Lawrence) wanted to ensure that future generations of young people would enjoy the opportunities that were denied to Stephen by his senseless murder.

Since its opening the Trust says there has been “a significant impact on criminal justice and social policy.  And we have had a lasting impact on the lives and life chances of the individual young people we have worked with.”

William and Kate met Trust board members and enjoyed a tour of the facility. Here you see them in a role-playing session with local students.

They also met Stephen Lawrence’s sister Georgina, and her daughter Mia, aged 10. Below we see them speaking with the Baroness as they are leaving the Centre.

The next stop for the royals, the XLP (eXceL Project), located at Christ Church in an area called Gipsy Hill. People magazine’s Simon Perry shared this image of Kate arriving.

More about the charity from the XLP website, talking about issues faced by young people:

Many of them cannot, or do not know how to ask for the help they need. However, every year XLP helps thousands of them recognise their full potential, and a more optimistic, hope filled future through positive, consistent relationships and empowering and supporting young people, their

A Kensington Palace statement explains why the Duke and Duchess chose to take part in these specific engagements:

“The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge share a concern that young people should be given every opportunity to fulfill their potential, and were keen to show support today for some organisations in south London who are working in this area.”

The couple also paid a visit to the XLP-r8 Community Bus, they are seen on the bus above right.

Another quick video from Alex Diaz, this one showing the royals arriving in Sydenham for their final engagement of the day.  The Duke and Duchess visited another XLP endeavor, a mobile recording studio made out of a police riot van.

XLP’s founder Patrick Regan told People magazine why today’s visits were vital to those XLP  works with.

“To some people we work with, they think this sort of thing, a visit of this nature, doesn’t happen to them. It happens to people who are more privileged. To have someone show interest in them is really important.”

As one might expect, there were lots of questions and comments from well-wishers about the impending arrival of Prince George’s little brother or sister. One of the gifts Kate and William received today from XLP: a babygro proclaiming ‘I refuse to believe this is a lost generation.”

Royal correspondents shared some of the comments on Twitter.

As noted above, Kate was in her Mulberry Double Breasted coat in the label’s ‘cerise’ color, a lush, hot pink.

We first saw the Duchess in this piece during the NYC visit in December. It is obvious when looking at the coat’s fit back in Decemebr there was plenty of extra room in the garment. The photo lower right shows how the piece almost bells out on Kate. Looking at the piece on Kate back then makes today’s fit easier to understand.

As some readers may recall, the coat is a wool/silk blend.

The Duchess wore her black suede Power pumps from one of her go-to shoe labels, Stuart Weitzman.

She also carried her Mulberry clutch, the Bayswater style in black suede.

Kate wore her Kiki McDonough pink morganite earrings.

These are expected to be the final public engagements for the Duchess prior to the birth of her second child.

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We have several other quick updates to share:

• Yesterday William, Kate and Harry attended the memorial service for Richard Meade, a three-time Olympic gold medalist in equestrian events. William and Harry are friends of Mr. Meade’s son, Harry. As noted by the Western Daily Press: “After retiring from competition himself, he nurtured son Harry’s career, and became a leading figure in the running of the sport, as well as a trainer and breeder who brought scientific rigour to every aspect of horse and rider.
• Kate shared more of her thoughts about children’s mental health in a story by The Times; the paper has its own campaign on the topic, Time to Mind. From Kate’s message: “I have been heartened to see that so much progress has been made in ending the taboo of adults openly treating mental well-being as the health issue it is”.
• There is a new photo of Prince George seen in a video Prince Charles has made for the World Wildlife Fund. The picture can be seen in a video the Prince did for the World Wildlife Fund in advance of Earth Day.

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Two quick tidbits about LK Bennett. The first is to let US shoppers know that the retailer is doing its Friends and Family event; use promo code 20FF for 20% off online and in US stores. There are some exclusions to the sale: Shearling and fur products, the Laura Bailey Collection, the Signature Collection, the Keri boot and the Simi boot.

Our second note is word that flash sale site RueLaLa is featuring LK Bennett, with a sale that launched about an hour ago. The sale includes clothing, handbags and shoes. As savvy shoppers know LK Bennett goods can move quickly in these flash sale events.

We leave you with this image of Kate today, and look forward to seeing you the first of next week for a catch-up post! (There’s no engagement or appearance, just many things that kind of fell by the wayside this past month.)

LINKAGE:

• Read more about the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust by clicking here, the organization’s Facebook page is here, its Twitter feed is here, and its Instagram page is here
• To learn more about the actual case, a BBC timeline may be seen here, The Guardian’s home page for news related to the case is here, a 389-page report following a Governmental Inquiry may be read here
• Read about the XLP Project by clicking here, visit the group’s Facebook page here, watch some of XLP’s videos on its YouTube channel here, you may follow the Twitter feed here 
• Read the entire Times story about this week’s message from Kate and the issue of children’s mental health by clicking here
• The Telegraph’s coverage by Gordon Rayner may be seen here, The Daily Mail’s story from Rebecca English is here, Richard Palmer’s story in The Express may be read here, The Daily Mirror story and photo gallery can be found here
• A Sky TV video may be viewed here