William and Kate today helped children prepare food around a campfire as they visited an outdoor primary school on their latest royal trip.
The Prince and Princess of Wales looked right at home as they threw themselves into action at a Forest School in Hereford, where pupils attend once a week to learn in a woodland environment.
Run by Madley Primary School, it also allows children to be taught about key issues like environmental awareness, conservation and woodland management.
The royal couple, who were gifted books for their children, George, Charlotte and Louis on arrival, took part in skimming bark off logs before crouching down and using a saw to help make a tree den.
But there were laughs when an enthusiastic William accidentally knocked a branch off the den while inspecting it, before hastily putting it back in its place.
Before leaving the site, they told staff and pupils: ‘More schools need the opportunity to do things like this.’
The Prince and Princess of Wales are at Madley Primary School’s Forest School in Hereford, which each pupil attends once a week to learn national curriculum subjects in a woodland environment
The royal couple were gifted books for their children, George, Charlotte and Louis by the school, and also helped pupils prepare for a campfire
William and Kate today helped children prepare food around a campfire as they visited a primary school on their latest royal trip
The Prince and Princess of Wales are at Madley Primary School’s Forest School in Hereford, which each pupil attends once a week to learn national curriculum subjects in a woodland environment
The royal couple grabbed hold of branches as they threw themselves into activities in Hereford
There were laughs when an enthusiastic William accidentally knocked a branch off the den while inspecting it, before hastily putting it back in its place
The Duchy of Cornwall and Madley Primary School have been partners of the Forest School initiative for the last 12 years as the Duchy supplied Madley Primary School with a woodland site at Brampton Hill Wood in order to enable the Forest School to take place in Hereford.
Over the subsequent years, due the school’s expansion, the woodland area that the Duchy provides has increased, along with the facilities available.
After visiting the school, William and Kate will head to Kings Pitt Farm, where they will meet with Duchy of Cornwall farming tenants, Sam and Emily Stables.
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Following struggles with their own mental wellbeing and seeing the stigma around mental health in the farming industry, Sam and Emily founded We Are Farming Minds, a charity working to support the mental health of farmers in rural communities throughout the county.
It offers Herefordshire farmers fully funded access to a range of services including counselling, a 24-hour phone and text support line, free mental health awareness workshops and social events throughout the year to break feelings of isolation.
The Duchy of Cornwall is working closely with We are Farming Minds to enhance its new Mental Health Strategy which provides ongoing mental health support to all its tenants, with a specific focus on tenants in rural and more isolated communities.
Their appearances today come amid claims that Prince Harry’s deep rift with his family is casting a shadow over the Invictus Games.
The Duke of Sussex’s time with the Army in Afghanistan inspired him to launch the sporting event in 2014 but William and Kate were central to its initial success.
The couple’s now-defunct foundation, which they formed with the duke, hoovered up sponsors and spent huge sums of cash to get Invictus up and running.
Nine years ago Harry, his father and brother stood united as they attended the opening ceremony and multiple events at the games in London – but the new King and his heir have had zero involvement since Harry met Meghan.
Despite Harry’s passion for Invictus, which is growing in size, officials say there have been plenty of spare seats at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf. Some believe the involvement of King Charles, William and Kate would change that.
The Waleses have both been at the Rugby World Cup in France in the past week while Charles and Queen Camilla and other senior royals have been at the Highland Games.
One Team GB insider told The Daily Telegraph: ‘The athletes find it bizarre but don’t want to get caught up in the royal crossfire.’
This year’s games in Germany are the biggest ever, involving 22 nations and 500-plus athletes. Harry has been there from start to finish, joining the applause, dancing in the crowd and joking about going out on the beers at the end of the day.
He was in high spirits in the days before Meghan arrived, high-fiving children and singing Sweet Caroline.
But there has been no word from his family in the UK.
Palace sources reportedly say that Royal Family members never involve themselves in others’ professional endeavours, and they would not expect the duke to voice support for William’s Earthshot Prize, for example.
One critic of Harry said: ‘Harry has never supported any of [the] latest [of] William’s projects, not Earthshot when he is president of African Parks and an advocate for climate change… but they insist William must support Invictus. I’m so tired of this nonsense.’
