{"id":15375,"date":"2026-05-12T21:48:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:48:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/15375\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T21:48:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T21:48:22","slug":"kate-middleton-marks-significant-turning-point-with-italy-trip-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/15375\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate Middleton marks ‘significant’ turning point with Italy trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Princess of Wales<\/a> is beginning a \u201cglobal mission\u201d this week as she returns to official international travel<\/a> this week for the first time since her cancer diagnosis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kate will arrive in Reggio Emilia, Italy, on Wednesday for a two-day visit focusing on the city\u2019s renowned approach to early childhood development, the first of several trips she is planning around the subject.<\/p>\n

\u201cUndoubtedly, this is a huge moment for the princess,\u201d said an aide. \u201cAlthough there will be many highlights of 2026, I think this being her first official international visit, post her recovery, I think this is a really significant moment for her.\u201d \u201cShe\u2019s taking it up a gear,\u201d adds a royal source.<\/p>\n

\"Princess<\/p>\n

Princess Kate looked a picture of health hosting a Buckingham Palace garden party last week (Alamy)<\/p>\n

The Princess is making her first overseas working trip since 2022, when she joined Prince William<\/a> in Boston for the Earthshot Prize Ceremony. In early 2024, she underwent major abdominal surgery<\/a> and was subsequently treated for cancer, undergoing six months of chemotherapy. Her trip to Italy comes almost 18 months after she shared the news that she was in remission.<\/p>\n

The Reggio Emilia approach<\/p>\n

While the Italy trip was not on hold as a result of her illness, she has been interested in the so-called Reggio Emilia approach for some time, according to royal sources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was something that she personally wanted to come and see. She\u2019s looking forward to being here, she\u2019s energised, she\u2019s enthused, she\u2019s excited to see Reggio Emilia in action and meet the people here too,\u201d says an aide.<\/p>\n

You may also like<\/p>\n

The world-leading philosophy on raising children focuses on the importance of attentive carers, the environment that surrounds a child and nature as “the third” teacher. Science shows that these factors are crucial to a child\u2019s development between the ages of 0 to 5 and influence the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

Gap-year memories\"Kate<\/p>\n

Before Kate’s university days she spent time in Italy (Getty)<\/p>\n

It will be a welcome return to Italy for the Princess too. She spent three months in Florence in 2000, before beginning her studies at the University of St Andrews. Ahead of her trip, she has been \u201cremembering the happy memories that she had during her time in Florence on her gap year,\u201d adds the aide.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s had many conversations with her husband, the Prince of Wales, and her children about this trip, and they\u2019re looking forward to hearing about it on her return to the United Kingdom.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Travelling to Italy also marks a significant milestone in Kate\u2019s return to royal duties, as her team continues to try to find the right balance between her ongoing recovery and her return to public-facing engagements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis visit is an important step in the Princess\u2019s recovery journey. She takes great joy from this work. I think it is only right that her first international trip since her illness is one that is focused on an issue that she is committed to championing for decades to come, and is a real issue that she wants to shine a spotlight on.\u201d<\/p>\n

A global outlook\"Princess<\/p>\n

Princess Kate met future early childhood experts on a visit the University of East London last week (POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Those who work closely with the Princess have noticed a change of pace in her work compared to before her illness and say she is taking her work up a gear when it comes to Early Childhood. A key sign of this is her desire to take the work worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an important step in her journey. It\u2019s a global mission,\u201d says an aide. \u201cShe wants to look at other models around the world and really create a global conversation.\u201d\u00a0The growing scientific evidence around the importance of early childhood is such that experts are now comparing the need to address it to the issue of climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Princess is here with her Centre to lead a new global conversation about this, believing we now need to focus on early brain development and nurturing the whole child with the same urgency and sense of mission as other global challenges like climate change,\u201d says Christian Guy, Executive Director of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood. \u201cIf we truly want to get ahead of these challenges in the future, this is about genuine prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The royal has a huge passion for the early years (POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Centre is working to build a global alliance and develop a blueprint for the holistic development of the whole child – translating scientific evidence into better understanding and action to ensure all children have the best possible start in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has all been driven by the Princess of Wales’ leadership over more than a decade and her commitment to elevating early childhood as one of the most important issues facing society today,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Over the next two days, Kate will carry out a series of engagements during what is being described as a high-level fact-finding visit to explore leading international approaches to supporting young children and those who care for them.<\/p>\n

She will also be given Reggio Emilia\u2019s highest civilian honour<\/a> – the Primo Tricolore – by the city\u2019s mayor, Marco Massari. The red, white and green flag was adopted as Italy\u2019s national flag in 1747.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Princess of Wales is beginning a \u201cglobal mission\u201d this week as she returns to official international travel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9934,545,11294,5,9736,9935,3636],"class_list":{"0":"post-15375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-early-childhood-development","9":"tag-getty-images","10":"tag-global-mission","11":"tag-italy","12":"tag-kate-middleton","13":"tag-reggio-emilia-approach","14":"tag-reggio-emilia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}