Kate wears Danish colours to visit Copenhagen

Kate opted for diplomatic dressing once again during a visit to Copenhagen, Denmark on the 22nd of February, 2022. She wore a red blazer over a white blouse, the colours of her host country’s flag 🇩🇰

The Duchess is visiting Copenhagen for two days to learn about Denmark’s approach to early childhood development. The country is renowned across the world for its education system and approach to the early years. There’s an emphasis on social skills and problem-solving, plus “free play”, outdoor activities and group work are encouraged. For a quick (and interesting) overview of the Danish education system, click here.

Kate’s undertaking the working visit on behalf of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which she launched last year.

A quick refresher on the centre: it researches, campaigns and collaborates to drive awareness and action on the early years, the first years of a child’s life from conception through to age five. Why these first years are so important in Kate’s own words:

Our first five years lay important foundations for our future selves. This period is when we first learn to manage our emotions and impulses, to care and to empathise, and thus ultimately to establish healthy relationships with ourselves and others. It is a time when our experience of the world around us, and the way that this moulds our development, can have a lifelong impact on our future mental and physical wellbeing. Indeed, what shapes our childhood shapes the adults and the parents we become. But — and this is crucial to understand — even if we ourselves didn’t get the best start in life we can still break the cycle and develop the skills needed to raise the next generation better.

The Duchess of Cambridge

Science has shown that what happens during these early years creates the foundations for our future health and happiness. Problems addressed and avoided through action in early childhood can impact wider society. There’s quite a lot of information on the Centre’s website if you wish to dig in deeper.

Vanity Fair shared a quick rundown on Kate’s activities in Copenhagen:

Upon her arrival in Copenhagen, Kate was greeted by the British ambassador to Denmark, Emma Hopkins. She then stopped by the University of Copenhagen to meet with and learn from the researchers running the Copenhagen Infant Mental Health Project, whose goal is to promote the mental well-being of infants and their parents. The Duchess went on to pay a visit to the LEGO Foundation Playlab at the University College Copenhagen where she even took a ride down the giant slide installed inside the building. While there, she also met with the team behind the Playful Learning Programme, a partnership between the LEGO foundation and six Danish universities to enhance children’s creative and experimental approach to learning.

Vanity Fair

Thankfully, Kate’s sliding was caught on camera! You can watch the moment below: