For the Prince of Wales, the outing is a chance to learn more about how technology can be used to support the Natural History Museum’s conservation research projects – a cause he has long been championing through his Earthshot Prize awards. Meanwhile, Catherine will take the opportunity to continue her interest in social and emotional education, working with school children in pond dipping sessions and discovering more about the National Education Nature Park programme.
Kate Middleton has also become a passionate advocate of fostering integration with the natural world, most recently promoting a series of short films celebrating the changing of the seasons. Dubbed ‘Mother Nature’, the videos serve to highlight the ability of nature to inspire connection. In the Spring film, released this May, Kate described nature as her ‘sanctuary’, citing ‘the natural world’s capacity to inspire us, to nurture us and help us heal and grow’.
Indeed, it was during her cancer treatment in July last year that the Princess of Wales issued a powerful message to celebrate the reopening of the Natural History Museum’s gardens. ‘I am hugely supportive of the Museum’s commitment to create a special space which encourages people of all ages to reconnect with nature and learn more about how we can protect our natural world,’ the Princess wrote in a statement on the royals’ shared Instagram account.
Elsewhere in the message, she gave a moving insight into how the natural world had contributed to her healing journey as she underwent chemotherapy. ‘I know the power of nature to support our development and wellbeing, both by bringing us joy and helping to keep us physically, mentally and spiritually healthy,’ she wrote. ‘I hope these gardens will be inspiring and transformative for the thousands of people who visit.’
In April, the Princess of Wales opened up about her ‘very spiritual, very intense’ connection with nature in a short film released with Chief Scout Dwayne Fields. Kate joined a group of young explorers as they pursued a map of the mountains surrounding Lake Windemere, where she enjoyed a candid conversation with Fields – the pair’s first since he was named Chief Scout in September 2024.
‘I find it a very spiritual and very intense emotional reconnection, I suppose, these environments,’ says the Princess of Wales, who wrapped up in a beige woollen turtleneck, jacket and matching flat cap for the day out. ‘Not everyone has that same relationship, perhaps, with nature, but it is so, therefore, meaningful for me as a place to balance and find a sort of sense of peace and reconnection in what is otherwise a very busy world.’