It was casual Kate for this afternoon’s engagement at Bond primary School. (If her jacket looks familiar, there’s a good reason!)
The Duchess was greeted by students when she arrived at the school.
She was there to see the Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative (WJTI) in action.
Many readers know what a big tennis fan Kate is; she is the patron of the All England Club and attends multiple matches at Wimbledon every year. The initiative offers “…children the opportunity to experience tennis, as well as showing how participation in sport can develop the life skills and values which tennis encourages, such as teamwork, discipline and fairness.”
More from Wimbledon’s report on the event:
“It was a substantial pleasure to welcome Her Royal Highness to our school,” added Mrs Despo Stevens, Head teacher at Bond primary School. “We so take pleasure in having the visits from the WJTI, and being active and fit is a very crucial message for our children.”
I believe Mrs. Stevens is seen in the photo on the left just below.
The WJTI reports a lot more than 195,000 local children have been introduced to the sport by means of its complimentary tennis coaching sessions.
It is funded by the Wimbledon Foundation. Kensington Palace tweeted that the lessons “…help build technical ability and promote values such as teamwork, fairness and discipline.”
This 22-second video is fun.
Kate looked like she was having a terrific time.Here you see her working with the children.
As typically happens when the Duchess is with children, we saw a few of Kate’s funny Faces. There were also outstanding expressions on the faces of the children, including the little scamp you see below right, he looks like he was having a terrific time.
There were high fives.
This little girl was darling.
And hugs.
Kate said goodbye to individual students before she left. Hello! magazine’s Tracy Schaverien shared this video of Kate saying goodbye to some of the students.
Now to what Kate wore for today’s engagement.
The Duchess was in another jacket from PlayBrave, the Clarice style (£129).
The jacket is crafted of a technical stretch material. It is described as having a generous fit to allow layering and freedom of movement. here you can see the multiple seams of the pieces of fabric used in the piece. lots of thanks to Laura for her speedy ID of the jacket and Sara for getting confirmation from PlayBrave of the exact style name for the piece.
Kate wore the Clarice for a lawn Tennis association engagement in October.
Today Kate brought back the Monreal track pants we have seen previously.
The Duchess wore her Nike Air Vapor trainers again.
And had on the Annoushka pearl drops ($420) with Kiki McDonough hoops (£500) worn for this morning’s engagement at terrific Ormond Street Hospital.
I will try and update with the normal list of links if I am able to make the time this evening. Our report on this morning’s engagement and Kate’s new Boden coat may be read by clicking here.
A quick Retail Roundup update: Aquatalia has the current version of the Rumbah on sale for $188. It is only available in larger sizes (10 – 13), but that’s an awfully good price if that’s your size. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
UPDATE THURSDAY AM: two new engagements have been announced for next week:
Tuesday, January 23: As part of the Heads Together initiative Kate will visit Roe green Junior High to launch a new mental health program for young children. The new undertaking is a joint project done in partnership with the Anna Freud national Centre for Children and Families, Place2Be and Young Minds. The formal launch event will also be attended by the minister for Schools, Nick Gibb
Wednesday, January 24: The Duchess continues her work in the maternal mental health field with a check out to the Maurice Wohl scientific Neuroscience Institute at King’s college and the Mother and baby Institute at Bethlem Royal Hospital. Kate will see the unit’s nursery area and meet with several patients who are currently undergoing treatment.
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