The Duchess in Dolce & Gabbana for Mentally Healthy Schools Conference

The Duchess was in a Dolce and Gabbana suit for today’s mental health in education conference.

 

The conference was organized by The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It is part of Kate’s initiative focused on ways to support better mental health in children.

 

Today’s function was at Mercers’ Hall in London.

The BBC’s Kate Silverton, seen above at the podium, hosted the conference and opened with a compliment for the Duchess. More from The Daily Mirror:

The journalist told the gathering: “As you will know [she] has been a great driving force behind the Royal Foundation’s work supporting children in their earliest years.

“And, Your Royal Highness, it’s an honour to have you here with us today.”

As most readers know, the Duchess is passionate about supporting ways to improve children’s mental health.

The Duchess during one of the presentations.

Kate with Ms. Silverton.

From Simon Perry’s People story:

The royal met head teachers from a number of schools that are currently piloting the Royal Foundation’s “Mentally Healthy Schools” program. Launched by Kate in 2018, “Mentally Healthy Schools” is a website giving primary schools free access to hundreds of the highest quality mental health resources, helping teachers better support their pupils’ mental health.

You may remember the Mentally Healthy Schools launch last January. 

 

The Royal Foundation is partnering with Place2Be, Young Minds, and the Anna Freud Centre in working on the initiative.

In addition to formal presentations, there was a round table discussion today.

A different People story reports on the discussion:

During a private round table discussion at Wednesday’s Mental Health in Education conference, Kate … met with 11 professionals to discuss the potential impact of consistent mental health training for teachers as well as the challenges facing its implementation.

“When I first started out – and I’ve learned a lot in a short period of time working with organizations – I was very naive myself as a parent of really just how important particularly the early years are for children’s futures,” said the royal mom of three – Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 3, and Prince Louis, 10 months.

“And how critical it is, everyone looking after children at a critical time, teachers, parents, and everyone who’s caring for them, how important it is that we get it right,” she continued. 

One element discussed at length was “…the benefits of integrating mental health modules into teacher training courses & another on the role of school leaders in creating a culture of wellbeing,” per a Kensington Palace news release.

Kate chatting with attendees.

The Duchess also spoke at today’s conference. From her remarks:

The evidence is clear the first few years of a child’s life are more pivotal for development and for future health and happiness than any other single moment in our lifetime.”

As we have heard today, it is vital that we support teachers with their own wellbeing so that they can find the best level of care for all children, in their schools and communities in which they work.

I feel so passionately about working together and being here today has affirmed to me just how much already is being done, so thank you to all of you who are prioritising the importance of mental health and the importance of childhood development as a whole.

 

This video has Kate’s entire speech.

“It is clear that the positive development of our children is directly linked to those who care for them, teachers, carers and parents.” — The Duchess of Cambridge #MHinEducation pic.twitter.com/47sBaYQtgS

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) February 13, 2019

Now we’ll look at what Kate wore, beginning with her tweed suit.

It is by Dolce and Gabbana, made in a black, white and light blue bouclé tweed. The suit features a fitted double-breasted jacket with oversized ornate buttons, pocket flaps and fringe trim at the placket, pocket flaps, collar and cuffs. The full skirt is a drop-waist style cut on the bias with a fringed hem.  

The brand does a fair amount of tweed. Today’s fabric is shown below left and center. On the right, a current season material with a similar weave. 

The black, white and pink material shown above right was used for a Tweed Mini Dress. There are many other similar weaves, like the Fringe Jacket shown below.

Kate wore her Tod’s suede pumps. 

And carried her Mulberry suede Bayswater clutch. 

The Duchess had on her Kiki McDonough White Topaz Cushion Drops. 

NOTE: The post originally said Kate wore the Pink Morganite Drops, but a friend shared a very good photo that makes it clear they are not the pink.

We’ll leave you with these two shots of the Duchess today.

And we’ll see you back here in just a few hours for our coverage of the 100 Women in Hedge Funds (now called 100 Women in Finance) gala dinner at the V&A.

 

LINKAGE:

• The Royal Foundation website is here; information about the Mentally Healthy initiative is here; read the entire text of Kate’s remarks by clicking here; the Mentally Healthy Schools site is here
• A Daily Mirror story is here; the Daily Mail’s article is here
• Simon Perry’s People story is here; the People piece on the roundtable discussion is here; a PopSugar gallery is here