Do we like them?

Do we like Catherine, Princess of Wales?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Nothing harmful turned up and her work for children is steady, but royals say little, so the record is thinner than it looks.

Catherine has been Princess of Wales since 2022, and she has spent much of her public life on one big idea: the first five years of life shape everything that comes after. She founded the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in 2021 and fronted its Shaping Us campaign when it launched in January 2023.

The Shaping Us pitch is a plain one. The campaign wants people to understand how much early experiences matter, and she framed it as prevention, saying “These are the most preventative years.” It's a cause with no culture-war edge, and it asks the public to take child development seriously.

Her one proper stumble was in March 2024. Kensington Palace released a Mother's Day family photo, and the Associated Press and Agence France-Presse pulled it, citing manipulation. The next day she apologised on X and admitted editing it herself: “Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing.” It was a communications mess and an own goal, not a harm story, and she owned it fast.

The good stuff is practical. In January 2025 she became a royal patron of Tŷ Hafan, a children's hospice near Cardiff, and spent the visit at a stay-and-play session and meeting bereaved families the hospice supports. It's quiet, unglamorous work, and it fits the pattern of her causes.