Kate Middleton says she is ‘absolutely determined’ to change attitudes towards early childhood development

The Princess of Wales is today launching a major campaign to raise awareness of children’s development before their fifth birthday.

In an open letter published in The Mail on Sunday, Kate sets out her plan for ‘Shaping Us’, an ambitious long-term project in which she urges the nation to work together to improve lives.

The princess wrote the impassioned plea on her laptop as she prepared to launch today’s campaign – followed by a week-long publicity blitz during which she will be joined by celebrities and influencers from the worlds of music, media and sport.

The campaign includes both eye-catching videos and social media posts.

The Princess of Wales has said she is “absolutely committed” to changing attitudes to children’s development during the early years of life in an open letter released with two images of Kate (pictured) visiting children and talk to them

Kate’s awareness campaign (pictured talking to children), ‘in which she highlights the critical importance’ of a person’s first five years in shaping their adult life, is being launched this week by the Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood

A spokesperson for the princess called it “her life’s work”.

Kate previewed the Shaping Us campaign last night with a short video on social media.

In the 50-second film, her hands can be seen opening a photo album with a blank cover. Inside, next to a photo of a grown man, she writes the question: “What shapes us?” On other pages we see pictures of families, an ultrasound and a pregnant woman.

Princess Kate posted a video to Twitter teasing the launch of the campaign after first meeting with her team of advisers on the subject earlier this week

Kate (pictured at Wednesday’s meeting) said the team is dealing with ‘big questions, big issues’ that are ‘complicated’

When Kate pulls out a photo of a little girl from the album, she reveals the words, “Our early childhood years shape the adults we become.”

It’s the start of what Kensington Palace hopes will be a huge multimedia impulse to raise awareness of how our early years shape our lives.

The campaign is a bold, more public direction for the Royal Foundation Center for Early Childhood, set up by the Princess, then Duchess of Cambridge, in June 2021.

Reports from the center have shown that the first five years determine future well-being more than any other stage of development, with our brains growing faster than ever before. However, many people are not aware of this fact.

Now the center brings its work to the general public.

It also hopes to ‘break the loop’ for parents who have experienced a difficult childhood themselves.

Palace assistants say the idea for the project started before Kate became a mother.

The princess explains in today’s letter that ‘as a society we currently spend much more time and energy on later life.

“I am absolutely determined that this long-running campaign is going to change that.”