Princess Kate Gives Kids the "Gift" or Her "Undivided Attention"

The Duchess Of Cambridge Visits The Imperial War Museum

(Image credit: Getty/Max Mumby/Indigo)

published 4 April 2023

Princess Kate is known for being wonderful with children—be they her own or the kids she meets during royal engagements.

She proved this once again during a November 2022 appearance at Colham Manor Children's Centre, according to one body language expert.

That day, the Princess of Wales met a three-year-old boy called Akeem, and was filmed having the sweetest conversation with him, which included giving him her Remembrance poppy pin, since he didn't have one of his own.

"Now we all know that listening is very important and we have to look into the eyes of the person we are listening to—that's common sense," Jesús Enrique Rosas, AKA The Body Language Guy, said while commenting on the interaction (via Express).

"Catherine is doing that exact thing [with Akeem] right now."

At one point, the little boy pointed to something he wanted the princess to notice, and she "turns around completely to see what he is talking about," Rosas said.

"Catherine is signaling that what he is saying is important to her by turning around fully and showing interest in what he wants to communicate."

Commenting on the moment she handed Akeem her poppy, Rosas said Catherine "presented it to him like it was something important."

The princess also spoke to Akeem's sister, and was equally attentive with the little girl.

"She's making the girl feel like she's a protagonist right now and that's how we should make people feel—like they have our undivided attention," Rosas said.

"Nowadays that is a gift, that is a privilege having the attention of someone."

The expert also noted that very few people are willing to give others their undivided attention, so the princess' interest in them will likely have made the two little kids feel very special.

Kate was at Colham Manor Children's Centre on behalf of the Maternal Mental Health Alliance. The royal is dedicated to early years development and wellbeing, so this engagement fit beautifully within her larger social work.

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.