The Princess of Wales has been carrying out visits to various educational institutions in Italy over the past couple of days, observing their practices for her own projects around childhood education.
On Wednesday, the royal touched down in the European country, and while visiting Reggio Emilia, the royal mum-of-three had the sweetest interaction with a baby who had been brought to meet her.
As the royal greeted crowds, she was introduced to Elena, who was just three months old. Elena had been brought by her mother, Marta, to meet the royal, and the pair had a sweet interaction as Kate was seen playing with the tot’s feet.
In photos of the meeting, Kate was seen beaming as she met the young baby, smiling at the girl as Elena smiled back.
Kate has chosen to visit Italy due to its ‘Reggio Emilia’ approach to teaching in early years. The royal has long had an interest in early childhood studies, and this European trip shows her dedication to pushing the topic into the spotlight even further and has been described as a “gear change” for the royal. It also marks her first trip abroad since her cancer diagnosis back in 2024.
Kate and early years education
Early years education has been one of Kate’s biggest passions since becoming a member of the royal family, and back in 2020, she made it a key part of her work.
Explaining the subject’s importance to her, the royal previously explained her interest was sparked “right from the early days, meeting lots of people who are suffering with addiction or poor mental health, and hearing time and time again that their troubles now in adulthood stem right back from early childhood experience”.
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She added: “This isn’t just about happy, healthy children, it’s about the society we could and can become.”
In 2021, she launched the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which focuses on research, developing new solutions and campaigns to raise awareness. The Daily Mail revealed in 2025 that since the organisation launched, it has reached over 500,000 children.
Last year, the Royal Foundation announced it would award £100,000 to support a new study, which will explore ways to help families build stronger bonds in early childhood by reducing interference by devices and helping parents to find a healthy tech-life balance.
It came after Kate published an essay titled The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World which highlighted the importance of warm, meaningful connections for a happy, healthy life.
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