While her life may seem like a fairy tale, Kate Middleton's early years were not always easy, the Duchess of Cambridge having struggled with her share of teasing and bullying from her peers at the private Downe House school in Berkshire, which she left after only two terms, according to the Telegraph.
Today at the first annual Resilience and Emotional Strength in Schools Forum, run by the charity Place2Be, Middleton stayed for an extra hour to listen to speakers discuss the way mental health issues affect children between the ages of four and 14, and was particularly interested in "sexting," or sending sexually explicit images and content via text, and immersed in a talk on cyberbullying given by clinician and journalist Tanya Byron.
"She was interested in what we do and my colleagues' work on addiction," Bryon told the Telegraph of Middleton's support. "She has given us such a seal of approval in a very public manner, from a woman who is loved by the public and has become a mother herself. She wants to support us, it's like a gift. She's a very bright woman. At one point when I was speaking she was telling the person she was with, 'I hope you're writing this down.'"
Middleton was among dozens of head teachers who gathered at in London's Canary Wharf at the offices of the law firm Clifford Chance for the forum. For the big event, she arrived in a navy blue Maxa Mara jacket and matching skirt by Orla Kiely, which she coupled with black stockings and navy pumps, her long brown locks kept back in a stylish ponytail that she complemented with drop-pearl earrings.
The interests of children and their mental health and well-being has become a key concern for the new mom, who, according to Susan Cameron, the former headmistress of Downe House, transferred to Marlborough College in Wiltshire to escape her childhood tormentors, as she was "unsettled and not particularly happy" at the private school.
"It's not just a fly in and fly out [event]," Byron said. "You can see this means something to her."
