Catherine, the Princess of Wales, is travelling to northern Italy next week in her first official overseas royal tour since recovering from cancer.
Her last official overseas trip in her capacity as Princess was to the United States of America with Prince William in December 2022. Her father-in-law, King Charles, recently returned from an historic state visit to the US just last week. Since her recovery, she has travelled overseas on holidays to France and Jordan, but this is her first official trip in her capacity as a Royal.
Princess Catherine is the latest royal to be heading off on a tour in 2026. Queen Mary and King Frederik made a royal tour to Australia earlier this year. Also, as mentioned, King Charles and Queen Camilla visited the US. King Charles then paid a visit to Bermuda. Catherine’s brother-in-law, Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, also paid a visit to Australia. However, their visit was not in an official royal capacity as they gave up their royal status (although they retained their titles).
Princess Catherine will be travelling to Italy solo, and reportedly, a spokesperson for Kensington Palace shared that she was “very much looking forward” to her visit.
She will travel to Reggio Emilia and be there for two days, 13 and 14 May. The trip is to support her early childhood education campaign. While in Reggio Emilia, she will learn how the city is approaching learning in the early years.
The city is home to the Reggio Emilia approach, an educational pedagogical philosophy which is student-centred and child-led. Loris Malaguzzi developed it in Italy after WWII. Classroomms are designed to encourage exploration, creativity and connection to nature. Education is experiential and self-directed. It has some bases in Australia, including in Hawthorn, Victoria.
The news comes on the day Princess Catherine promoted the launch of the Foundations for Life University of East London. These foundations are a guide developed by the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. Princess Catherine established this foundation in 2021. The Princess visited their facility and met with families, researchers and educators to learn about the processes and resources available.
“If you could invest in just one thing to help you and your family thrive, invest in the relationships you have with each other,” Princess Catherine wrote in an essay for the foundation.
“Children who are raised in environments rooted in love, safety and dignity are better able to develop the social and emotional scaffolding required to form healthy relationships, resolve conflict and grow into adults capable of building loving partnerships, families and communities themselves.”
Look the people you care about in the eye and be fully there – because that is where love begins.”
We will share more details about Princess Catherine’s upcoming royal tour as soon as we know! Watch this space!
