Princess Kate visited with a few Ukrainian families as they settled in to their new homes in the UK, continuing to show her support for the country’s refugees.
The Princess of Wales stopped by the Reading Ukrainian Community Centre on Thursday to meet with those who have been displaced from their homes due to the ongoing war with Russia. While there, she also learned more about how the community center is helping these refugees establish their new lives in the United Kingdom and put down roots. Upon her arrival, the royal was met with a traditional Ukrainian cake and learned about how the organization has adapted their services and offerings to better support this influx of families.
Kate met with a few of those families as well to hear about their experiences first hand, and even joined their children for an art class. The community center hosts these types of creative sessions monthly in order to give the kids the opportunity to connect with each other, express their emotions from everything they’ve been through over the last several months, and, most importantly, have fun. One 5-year-old girl in the class took a special liking to the princess, drawing a heart and rainbow and writing, “Kate I love you” alongside it. The little girl also later posed for a photo with the royal sitting on her lap. Kate wore a special outfit for the occasion, opting for a blue dress with yellow polka dots as a subtle nod to Ukraine’s flag.
Since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Princess Kate and her husband Prince William have made their support for the Ukrainian people abundantly clear. In February, shortly after the initial invasion, the royal couple released a joint statement declaring that they stand with “all of Ukraine’s people,” writing on Twitter, “In October 2020 we had the privilege to meet President [Volodymyr] Zelensky and the First Lady to learn of their hope and optimism for Ukraine’s future. Today we stand with the President and all of Ukraine’s people as they bravely fight for that future.” They concluded with an emoji of the Ukrainian flag and their initials “W & C.”
A couple weeks after this announcement, the Prince and Princess of Wales also paid a visit to London’s Ukrainian Cultural Centre where they helped sort through and pack donations bound for some of the then over 1 million refugees who had fled the country since the beginning of the Russian invasion. Both Kate and William wore matching pins for the occasion featuring the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag and Kate also wore a bright blue Alexander McQueen sweater. The royals also brought a contribution of their own, offering up some homemade brownies and granola bars to share with all the volunteers.
And last week, The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales hosted a virtual roundtable meeting to share best practices for supporting the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska‘s mental health strategy. This initiative was launched in August as a means by which to address the emotional and mental impact the ongoing war is having on Ukrainians everywhere.
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