The Princess of Wales has used her first public speech since her cancer treatment to call on business leaders to prioritise “time and tenderness” amid the pursuit of profit and success.
Kate, 43, addressed 80 guests as she outlined her belief in “restoring the dignity” of caring and “loving well” in a call to build “a happier, healthier society”.
In a rare speech, the princess, wearing a grey trouser suit and white blouse, opened a summit in the City of London as part of her work with the Royal Foundation to promote the importance of early childhood.
Speaking at a lectern on the 36th floor of the Salesforce Tower skyscraper, she said: “A loving home ultimately teaches us how to love and how to care, but every environment has the potential to shape our hearts.
“Every one of you interacts with your own environment: a home, a family, a business, a workforce, a community. These are the ecosystems that you yourselves help to weave. Imagine a world where each of these environments were built on valuing time and tenderness just as much as productivity and success.
“As business leaders you will face the daily challenge of finding the balance between profitability and having a positive impact. But the two are not, and should not be, incompatible.”
Over the past year, Kate has been making a gradual return to public duties following a cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy in 2024.
In a brief reference to her time away, she thanked Christian Guy, executive director of the Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood, for “holding the fort, particularly over the last couple of years”.
The Duchess of Cambridge was joined by Christian Guy, executive director of the Royal Foundation’s Centre for Early Childhood
JAMES TAYLOR/ALAMY
Speaking confidently, she delivered what palace sources described as “a rallying cry” for change in the corporate world as she urged business leaders to “invest in the future”.
She said: “My passion and the work of the Centre for Early Childhood stems from one essential truth: that the love we feel in our earliest years fundamentally shapes who we become and how we thrive as adults.
“Love is the first and most essential bond. But it is also the invisible thread, woven with time, attention and tenderness, through consistent, nurturing relationships, which creates the grounded and meaningful environments around a child.”
She added: “I believe in restoring the dignity to the quiet, often invisible work of caring, of loving well, as we look to build a happier, healthier society.”
The princess speaks with the Bloomberg broadcaster Mishal Husain, the Yale psychologist Professor Marc Brackett and the Harvard psychiatrist Professor Robert Waldinger
ADRIAN DENNIS/REUTERS
Before addressing business leaders, the Princess welcomed Sir Gareth Southgate, the former England football manager, and Mishal Husain, the Bloomberg broadcaster who compered the event.
Kate said it was important to have “different conversations” about early childhood and noted that there was “lots of tangible action going on”.
Sir Gareth said all of the speakers would be “provocative”.
Speaking about the importance of mentorship on stage later, the former England manager said he had been “very fortunate” to have grown up in a loving environment but found that it was “much harder” to build trust with footballers who did not have such a secure family background.
“With my players, I wanted to create an environment where they could fail,” he said, adding that most coaching took place away from the training pitch “with a cup of coffee” when he would say to players: “Tell me what’s going on in your life.”
Sir Gareth admitted that when he was younger he was guilty of “catastrophising,” giving the example of the time he missed “a very famous penalty 30 years ago” in the semi-final of the UEFA Euro 1996 tournament against Germany.
He said: “I was always thinking, ‘How do I ever recover from this? This is a public humiliation, right?’
“I failed to execute a skill under pressure in front of half of the world, so I didn’t know where I was heading with that.”
But he said that he had worked through it “step by step” and recognised that he had to go out and face people.
Southgate talks with Marc Brackett, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence
ADRIAN DENNIS/REUTERS
Kate stayed on at the summit later than expected to listen to the afternoon session. It coincided with the publication of a report by the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood called The Human Advantage.
Prepared by Deloitte, the report states that, as AI increasingly handles technical tasks, a firm’s competitive advantage will rely on human skills that technology cannot replicate.
It cites research that 81 per cent of business leaders believe there will be an increased need for human skills in the next five to ten years.
Previously, the princess urged businesses to think “radically” to create a workforce that was “resilient” and “flexible”.
Dame Amanda Blanc, the group chief executive of Aviva, said her company had introduced a scheme in which all new parents were entitled to six months of leave at full pay.
Other companies which signed up to the princess’s business taskforce include Ikea, NatWest, Unilever, Lego, The Co-op Group and Deloitte.
Last month, the princess published an essay about the importance of a child’s early development with Robert Waldinger, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard, who also addressed the summit.
Kate stayed at the summit later than expected
TOBY SHEPHEARD/KENSINGTON PALACE
In The Power of Human Connection in a Distracted World, Kate told families to set aside the pull of screens: “Look the people you care about in the eye and be fully there — because that is where love begins.”
She added: “We’re physically present but mentally absent, unable to fully engage with the people right in front of us.”
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The business summit is part of the princess’s continued return to public life after her chemotherapy treatment.
Kensington Palace has announced that she will host her annual carol service at Westminster Abbey again in December, with Kate Winslet and Hannah Waddingham among the guests.