The Princess of Wales will be making a major appearance in just a few days for an exciting project linked to a cause close to her heart. Princess Catherine will be in London next Tuesday, November 18, to attend the very first Future Workforce Summit, hosted by The Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood, Kensington Palace announced.
The summit will bring together the UK’s most influential business leaders to drive further action and investment in the early years, a topic on which the future Queen is deeply invested. It is part of Catherine’s work to inspire societal-wide action to create a healthier, happier society transformed by our approach to early childhood.
The Future Workforce Summit will take place at Salesforce Tower in London and will see more than 80 business leaders gather to hear from experts in leadership, human development and early childhood.
It will focus on how businesses investing in the early years can play a crucial role in the next generation, developing the human skills needed for the future workforce to thrive, at a time of significant technological progress and change, with the aim of reaching more than one million babies and young children by 2026.
Tuesday’s event will be hosted by journalist and broadcaster Mishal Husain and will feature an onstage discussion from former England football manager Sir Gareth Southgate and research psychologist Professor Marc Brackett, as well as sessions from Professor Robert Waldinger from Harvard University, and psychotherapist and author Philippa Perry, among others.
Delegates will hear from leaders of Business Taskforce members Aviva, NatWest Group, Iceland, Ikea UK and Ireland, The Lego Group and Deloitte about the work their organisations have already delivered as part of the Taskforce which have reached more than half a million babies and young children to date, as well as hearing about innovative new projects from Amazon, Kellogg’s, Jude’s, Salesforce and the Co-op.
Princess Catherine established the business taskforce in March 2023 to “galvanise business action”.
During its first year, it produced a report titled “Prioritising early childhood for a happier, healthier society: How business can drive, and benefit from, transformative change in the UK,” which set out the case for prioritising early childhood and identifying the five areas where businesses can have the biggest impact.
It comes hours after the future Queen announced that her annual Christmas carol service will take place on December 5 this year at Westminster Abbey
Catherine’s Together at Christmas Carol Concert will this year celebrate the power of love and togetherness.
Actors Hannah Waddingham, Kate Winslet and Chiwetel Ejiofor are set to give readings while carols will be sung by the Westminster Abbey choir, alongside musical performances.