It’s just so funny to me that the Princess of Wales apparently threw a fit about how no one should talk about her style anymore, and then proceeded to wear one of her worst looks in years. I can’t get over this assy ensemble from Kate – the stringy, too-long hair, the obvious “bump-it” wiglet/fall, the catastrophic pleated trousers, the misshapen blazer. She was absolutely daring us to talk sh-t! Kate also has this weird thing where, when she knows she’s going to be around kids, she wears really dark colors. When visiting the 9/11 Memorial, she wore hot pink – when visiting a school, she wore all-black. I don’t get it. But anyway, we’re not supposed to talk about her style anymore, but I just had a big relapse. As for the substance of Kate’s big keen bus ride and museum visit, obviously People Magazine makes it sound like Kate deserves canonization for this.
Kate Middleton may have shared a glimpse into family road trips with Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis during her latest royal outing. The Princess of Wales, 43, made a surprise arrival at the National Portrait Gallery on Feb. 4, stepping off the bus with schoolchildren and teachers for their field trip to the London art gallery.
Alix Ascough, the executive head of All Souls Church of England Primary School in London, tells PEOPLE that Princess Kate “sat with the children on the coach and chatted with them.” At one point, the royal took part in a classic road trip game: I Spy.
“She was so relaxed and animated, and it just felt really natural,” Ascough says. “We’ll never have another school trip like that, will we?”
When they arrived at the National Portrait Gallery, Kate walked in holding the hand of a student named Grace. Inside, the group visited an interactive trail that used the artwork to explore how faces can express feelings and emotions. The project is part of the new Shaping Us Framework from The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, the Princess of Wales’ initiative to give children the best possible start to life.
Ascough tells PEOPLE, “For the children, it was just so magical. It was an awe and wonder moment. They’ve been doing lots of artwork at school, so for them to be able to that within the gallery with the princess was magical. It’s what memories are made of.”
Liz Smith, director of learning and engagement at the National Portrait Gallery, tells PEOPLE that the outing was “a regular school trip with a very special person on the bus. That was quite deliberate. It’s planned to be for children, and it can lose that magic if you have that formal launch.” At the end of the interactive trail, Princess Kate helped the children create self-portraits in a “cozy nook” that Smith calls “our storytelling space… They all sat and drew and posted them into a magical cabinet where they disappeared. We might be revealing some of them.”
Princess Kate was “naturally nurturing and was listening and integrated with the group. She was one of the school party, and there was no official presentation. It was as if she was one of the mums, one of the helpers. And, as you are on a school trip, you’re learning as you’re walking and making sense of the environment. It was a real treat.”
“A regular school trip with a very special person on the bus. That was quite deliberate. It’s planned to be for children, and it can lose that magic if you have that formal launch…” This makes me wonder how this outing came together. It feels like the National Portrait Gallery came to their royal patron (Kate) and said: hey, we’ve helped organize this field trip for our new interactive exhibition, maybe Kate would like to do something around it? Everyone is being pretty careful to NOT give Kate credit for coming up with the adventure. In fact, they’re making sure it sounds like Kate was added at the last minute and that she didn’t organize any of it. I feel like this is what most of Kate’s outings are like though – it’s never Kate being proactive and putting together events or launches. It’s her staffers figuring out these simple, uncomplicated childlike photo-ops for her.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
