Kate Middleton Gets Hugs and High Fives During Italian Preschool Visit as She Expands Her Mission for Children

The Princess of Wales is on her first work trip abroad since her cancer diagnosis for a cause close to her heart

Kate Middleton visits a preschool in Italy on May 13, 2026.Credit : Marco BERTORELLO / POOL / AFP via Getty

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Kate Middleton is on a two-day work trip to Italy, learning more about early childhood development
The Princess of Wales visited a preschool to see the Reggio Emilia Approach in action, where she received lots of hugs and high fives from the young students
The visit marks the Princess of Wales’ first overseas work trip since her cancer diagnosis in 2024

Kate Middleton is going back to the classroom during her visit to Italy.

The Princess of Wales, 44, kicked off her two-day work trip to northern Italy on May 13, and her first day on the ground included time at Scuola Comunale d’infanzia Anna Frank, a preschool for children aged 3 to 6. After learning about the theory and values behind the Reggio Emilia Approach, her visit to the school gave her a chance to see the educational philosophy in action.

Inside, Princess Kate joined a creative session with the atelierista, a specialist artist-educator, and a group of children, demonstrating the importance of artistic exploration within the Reggio Emilia Approach.

At the school, the royal also met the cooking team and other teachers.

Princess Kate proved to be a hit with the children, getting lots of hugs and high fives during her time at the preschool.

The Reggio Emilia Approach was developed after World War II by Loris Malaguzzi and puts children’s natural development at the center of its philosophy, allowing kids to have some control over their learning, interact with their environment and be able to express themselves.

During her welcome to Reggio Emilia, the Princess of Wales connected with some children in the town square by speaking with them in Italian.

According to the Daily Mail, she told the children, “I speak a bit of Italian. What is your name? I am Catarina,” using the Italian version of her first name, Catherine, to introduce herself.

Despite studying abroad in Florence, Princess Kate has previously admitted that she’s “so bad” at speaking Italian. However, a 5-year-old girl named Alice told reporters that Kate spoke the language “very well.”

Teacher Roberta Marzi adds, “She asked them some simple questions, but her Italian was perfect. She spoke clearly.”

Princess Kate has made early childhood well-being a key component of her royal work, creating The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in 2021. The organization’s Shaping Us campaign, launched in 2023, focuses on the vital impact of the first five years of life on adult development.

Her two-day visit to Reggio Emilia is seen as a fact-finding mission, and she will spend time digging into their internationally recognized approach to early childhood education as she meets with educators, parents, children and thought leaders in the field.

The Princess of Wales’ solo trip to Italy marks her first work trip overseas since announcing her cancer diagnosis in 2024. She spent much of that year out of the public eye amid her treatment and recovery. Although she returned to a fuller schedule of duties after announcing she was in remission in early 2025, she’s described the period after treatment as “really, really difficult.”

“[This visit] is an important step in the Princess’ recovery journey. She takes great joy from this work,” said a royal aide ahead of the trip. “I think it is only right that her first international trip since her illness is one that is focused on an issue that is committed to championing for decades to come and is a real issue that she wants to shine a spotlight on.”

Christian Guy, director of the Centre for Early Childhood, added that Princess Kate wants “to transform the way we think and act as a society in supporting babies, children and those raising them, and particularly the Shaping Us Framework, which identifies the social and emotional skills that form the bedrock of lifelong well-being.”

Kate Middleton visits a preschool in Italy on May 13, 2026.Marco BERTORELLO / POOL / AFP via Getty

“This has all been driven by the Princess of Wales’s leadership over more than a decade, and her commitment to elevating early childhood as one of the most important issues facing society today,” he said, adding that the royal mom of three believes in the need to “focus on early brain development and nurturing the whole child with the same urgency and sense of mission as other global challenges like climate change — if we truly want to get ahead of these challenges in the future. This is about genuine prevention.”