In her first public appearance in two years, the Princess of Wales called for more dignity for carers and more respect for values such as “tenderness” in business.
At an event in the City of London, Catherine called on 80 top business leaders to do their part to ensure healthy family lives for employees, including caring responsibilities.
“I believe in restoring the dignity of the quiet, often invisible work of care and kind love as we strive to build happier, healthier societies,” the princess said at the Future Workforce Summit.
The event was part of Catherine's campaign to raise awareness of the importance of children's early childhood and building healthy family relationships.
This was Katherine's first performance since November 2023 and first since her cancer diagnosis in March 2024.
She has since spoken on social media with recorded messages, including about her gradual recovery from chemotherapy, but this was the first speech given in person since then.
It marks another step in her return to public life and also reflects her style: the event begins with a poem read by Alex Wharton, a former Welsh Children's Laureate.
Her speech, delivered with confidence, reflected her deep personal message about the need to place more emphasis on kindness and the recognition that “love is the first and most important connection.”
“The love we feel in our earliest years fundamentally determines who we become and how we succeed as adults,” the princess said.
She spoke to business leaders about the need for families to be able to provide their children with a supportive home in what she called a “weave of love.”
The speech was delivered high up in a city skyscraper, with London spread out below like a model village.
Catherine called on business leaders to rethink their workplaces and create a different model of their priorities, in which companies “value time and affection as much as productivity and success.”
The princess, who opened the Early Childhood Center before her illness, called for a more holistic approach to measuring success.
“As business leaders, you will face the challenge of balancing profitability and positive impact every day. But the two are not and should not be incompatible,” she said.
Also speaking at the event was Robert Waldinger, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, who said research has shown that people who had nurturing relationships in early childhood are still likely to be more emotionally secure in old age.
Former England football manager Sir Gareth Southgate, speaking at the business meeting, said that in trying to motivate players he had found that teenagers from difficult backgrounds may not have the same level of confidence as those who grew up in closer family relationships.
He said coaches created personality profiles of players to understand “how they are wired.”
He spoke about his own experience of responding to moments of stress using a combination of “sleep, good nutrition and limiting alcohol” and breathing exercises to control stress.
Sir Gareth also recalled his own recovery from the “public humiliation” of missing a penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final, when he said “half the world was watching”.
He said this meant “taking small steps gradually to regain your confidence” and spoke of the importance of ensuring that people in any workplace can “feel comfortable in their own skin”.
The meeting was part of a Business Group set up by the Princess to try to gain business support for her campaign to recognize the importance of early childhood.
Delegates at the event heard from executives from companies supporting the project, including Aviva, NatWest Group, Iceland, Ikea, Lego and Deloitte.
