Fourteen Years On, Catherine Returns to the Hospice Where Her Royal Story Began

Catherine, Princess of Wales, returned on Thursday, October 22, to The Treehouse children’s hospice in Ipswich — the place where, 14 years earlier, she opened the building and delivered her first public speech as a member of the royal family. The hospice is run by East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH), the charity of which Catherine has been patron since January 2012, two months before that first speech in March 2012, People reported.

The Treehouse provides short breaks and palliative support for children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and a bereavement service for their families. Catherine spent nearly an hour talking to children and families receiving care there, according to BBC-syndicated coverage of the visit.

She watched music-therapy sessions, including one in which Charlotte Freegard, 13, who has a rare genetic muscle disorder called nemaline myopathy, sang Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” through a microphone for her. “Charlotte, that was beautifully sung. Well done, you,” Catherine said, and told her she was “brilliant,” Hello Rayo reported. She also saw the hospice’s sensory room, with its special lighting, water bed and projector.

She met four-year-old Primrose Harvey, who has a rare congenital heart defect, hypoplastic right-heart syndrome. Primrose’s mother, Katie, told the princess that her daughter has had three heart surgeries, including one at six days old and another only two weeks ago. “Super brave girl and brave parents, too,” Catherine told her, according to the BBC-syndicated coverage. Mrs Harvey said afterwards that it was “really nice for her to come here and see first-hand how much they do for families.”

The visit also took in the building work around her. The Treehouse is in the middle of a major expansion — a new hydrotherapy pool, wellbeing and therapy suites, a larger care activity area, a dedicated space for teenagers, an extra bedroom and larger kitchen and dining facilities — and Catherine toured the construction underway, People and Hello reported. EACH said in March that about £4 million of the funding was already in place and that it had until October 2027 to raise the rest, according to the BBC-syndicated coverage. The charity’s chief executive, Kevin Clements, said the demand on its services “is only going one way; it’s increasing every single year,” and that the visit helped raise the charity’s profile.

After the hospice, Catherine made an unannounced stop at Café 98 in Hoveton, Norfolk — EACH’s first and only hospice café, inside a charity shop — where she sat down for coffee, toured the shop and helped sort donations, The Royal Observer reported, quoting the Daily Express’s royal editor, Emily Ferguson. More than 100 people gathered outside.

Chatting at the café, she said she missed her eldest son, Prince George, who started boarding at Eton last month, and that she was looking forward to all three children coming home for half term, The Royal Observer reported, quoting a local resident, Denise Ashton. Hello Magazine likewise reported that she spoke of missing George and of the half-term break bringing him home.

The return closed a circle that Catherine herself marked on a later visit, in words People recalled in its report of Thursday’s trip: “At the opening of the Treehouse Hospice many years ago — which I think I will remember for some years to come, as it was my first-ever speech! — I referred to your hospices as being homes. This visit today has only reinforced for me just what is at the heart of what you do here, throughout your work, and that is family.”

Sources: People; BBC (syndicated coverage); Hello Rayo; Hello Magazine; The Royal Observer; Royally Inspired.