Catherine & Place2Be: The Princess's Mental-Health Mission
The Princess of Wales has been royal patron of Place2Be since 2013, championing children's mental health and the early years as the foundation of a whole life.
Of all the causes the Princess of Wales has made her own, none runs deeper than children’s mental health and the early years of life. At the heart of that work sits Place2Be, the children’s mental-health charity she has served as royal patron since 2013, one of her earliest patronages, and one that has come to define her mission. Catherine’s work with Place2Be is quietly determined, evidence-led and genuinely close to her heart.
Where some royal patronages are largely ceremonial, this one is a true vocation. The Princess has spent more than a decade championing one idea: that supporting children’s mental health early, and understanding how the first years of life shape everything that follows, is one of the most important things a society can do.
Here is the story of Catherine’s mental-health mission: her long partnership with Place2Be, her focus on the early years, and why this work matters so much to her.
Place2Be: mental health in schools
Place2Be is a children’s mental-health charity that works inside schools across the United Kingdom, providing counselling and support to children, young people, families and staff. Its model is early intervention: reaching children where they already are, in the classroom, and offering help before difficulties take deeper root.
The charity’s approach is designed to support young people without stigma, giving them a safe place to talk and be heard as a normal part of school life. It is practical, preventative work of exactly the kind the Princess champions: quiet, unglamorous and enormously valuable, reaching thousands of children who might otherwise struggle unseen.
A patronage close to her heart
The Princess of Wales became royal patron of Place2Be in 2013, one of the very first patronages she chose after joining the royal family, a telling early signal of where her priorities lay. In the years since, she has visited schools, met the children and counsellors, and used her platform to shine a national spotlight on the charity’s work.
More than a decade on, that commitment has only deepened. The choice to take on a children’s mental-health charity so early, at a time when the subject was far less openly discussed, showed real conviction. It has become one of the defining threads of her public life, and Place2Be has grown in profile and reach through the association.
Championing children’s mental health
Through Place2Be and her wider work, the Princess has helped bring the once-taboo subject of children’s mental health into the open. She has lent her support to initiatives such as Children’s Mental Health Week, encouraging conversations in schools and homes about how young people feel and how to help them.
Her message is consistent and compassionate: that mental health matters as much as physical health, that struggles are nothing to be ashamed of, and that the earlier support arrives, the better. In helping to normalise these conversations, she has arguably done as much as any public figure to change how a generation thinks about children’s wellbeing.
The early-years focus
Over time, Catherine’s work has crystallised around a bigger, connecting idea: the profound importance of the earliest years of life. In 2021 she launched the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, dedicated to raising awareness of how experiences from pregnancy to the age of five shape the rest of a person’s life.
Her subsequent “Shaping Us” campaign carried the message to the wider public: the early years are not simply a prelude to life but the very foundation of it, laying down the emotional and social groundwork for everything that follows. The argument is a long-term one: investing in early childhood is one of the most effective ways a society can prevent problems, including mental-health difficulties, later on.
A quietly determined campaigner
What marks the Princess’s approach is its seriousness. This is not cause-of-the-month campaigning but a patient, evidence-led mission built over more than a decade. She has taken time to learn from experts, to understand the research, and to develop a considered case rather than simply lend her name.
That thoughtful, long-game approach is characteristic of her, and it lends her advocacy real weight. She is content to work steadily and out of the limelight, building understanding year by year, the mark of someone genuinely committed to change rather than headlines. Our profile of Catherine’s charity work, passions and style sets this mission in the wider context of her public life.
Why her work matters
Catherine’s mental-health mission matters because it addresses something fundamental and often overlooked: the wellbeing of children and the foundations laid in the earliest years of life. By championing Place2Be and the early years for well over a decade, she has helped change the national conversation and directed attention, and compassion, to where it can do the most good.
It is a quietly transformative use of a royal platform: patient, evidence-led and deeply humane. Browse more of our Royal Figures stories to explore the causes that define the modern royal family.
Frequently asked questions
What is Place2Be?
Place2Be is a UK children’s mental-health charity that works within schools, providing counselling and support to children, young people, families and staff. Its focus is early intervention: helping children before difficulties become entrenched, without stigma.
How long has Catherine been patron of Place2Be?
The Princess of Wales has been royal patron of Place2Be since 2013, making it one of her earliest and longest-held patronages. She has championed the charity and children’s mental health for well over a decade.
What is Catherine’s main cause?
The Princess of Wales’s central cause is children’s mental health and the early years of life. Through Place2Be and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, she champions the idea that experiences in the first years of life shape a person’s whole future.
What is the Centre for Early Childhood?
Launched by the Princess of Wales in 2021, the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood raises awareness of the importance of the years from pregnancy to age five, and promotes the understanding that this period lays the foundations for the rest of life.
What is the “Shaping Us” campaign?
“Shaping Us” is a campaign launched by the Princess of Wales to highlight the critical importance of early childhood. It aims to build public understanding that the first five years of life shape our emotional and social development and long-term wellbeing.
Why does Catherine focus on the early years?
The Princess focuses on the early years because research shows that experiences from pregnancy to age five profoundly shape lifelong outcomes, including mental health. She argues that supporting children early is one of the most effective ways to prevent difficulties later in life.
Details of the Princess of Wales’s patronages are drawn from official sources including place2be.org.uk and the Royal Foundation; details are described as of 2026.
