Princess Kate gave a heartfelt thank you to Christian Guy as she made her first speech since November 2023.
The Princess of Wales was giving a speech at the Future Workforce summit in London.
The future queen had spent the majority of 2024 away from the public eye, undergoing chemotherapy before announcing in January that she was cancer-free.
Mr Guy runs The Centre for Early Childhood and has worked alongside Kate since 2023 to drive awareness on the impact of early childhood.
Princess Kate made her first speech since November 2023
|REUTERS
The royal made sure to thank him in her return to public speaking, where she said: “I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Christian, who has led The Centre and built so many of the relationships here today.
“Thank you, Christian, for holding the fort, particularly over the last couple of years.”
She went on to tell senior executives that “profitability” and making a “positive impact” were not “compatible” at the summit hosted by her Royal Foundation.
She continued saying: “A loving home ultimately teaches us how to love and how to care, but every environment has the potential to shape our hearts.
“Every one of you interacts with your own environment; a home, a family, a business, a workforce, a community. These are the ecosystems that you yourselves help to weave.
“Imagine a world where each of these environments were built on valuing time and tenderness just as much as productivity and success.”
Kate is a mother of three and created the Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood in 2023 to gain more investment in early years.
The event hosted members such as Richard Walker, executive chairman of Iceland Foods, and Dame Amanda Blanc, Aviva group chief executive.
Christian Guy was appointed the Director of Centre for Early Childhood in 2023
|THE ROYAL FOUNDATION CENTRE FOR EARLY CHILDHOOD
The Princess continued: “Every child deserves respect and safety, and everyone who cares deserve recognition and appreciation.
"Every act of care creates community because we are all essentially weavers of that same fabric.
“I believe in restoring the dignity to the quiet, often invisible work of caring, of loving well, as we look to build a happier, healthier society.”
The 43-year-old was due to leave Salesforce Tower after a private lunch, but decided to stay for the afternoon session, where taskforce members discussed what their firms were doing to promote early years.
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A source said: “She feels passionately about the work the Business Taskforce is doing to place early childhood at the heart of the business community.
“She stayed on this afternoon to hear more about how current taskforce members are inspiring some of the biggest businesses in the UK to make change too.”
The taskforce produced a report last year that recommended a range of solutions, from creating a culture inside and outside firms that prioritises childhood to supporting parents with greater resources and flexibility in the workplace, and stated the nation could benefit from an estimated £45.5billion with investment in early childhood.
Sir Gareth Southgate was also seen speaking at the event
|REUTERS
Former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate was in attendance at the event and took part in the discussion about his own personal development and his coping mechanisms when under pressure during his career as both a football player and a manager.
He recalled his famous miss in the semi-final of Euro 96 against Germany and revealed afterwards that he thought: “How do I ever recover from this? This is a public humiliation. I failed to execute a skill under pressure in front of half the world.”
But he went on to say it was a process of “small steps towards recovering your confidence,” and mentioned that he had spoken to his teammates who had experienced similar situations.