Prince William and Kate Middleton.Photo: IAN VOGLER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Kate MiddletonandPrince Williamare using a special garden to help nurture well-being.
The Prince and Princess of Wales met up with Annabelle Padwick, who is creating a set of small vegetable gardens at a rehab center to provide a new, alternative therapy. The couple is throwing their royal clout and fundraising aid behind the plans, which wereunveiled at Brynawell Rehabilitation Centre in South Waleson Tuesday. Meeting those who will set up and run the gardens as well as the clients who will use it, they left a deep impression.
“It wasn’t just a ‘hi’ – they are interested in people’s stories and really wanted to know about peoples' experiences and their journeys. And they really care and want to try and help make a difference,” Padwick, founder ofLife at No.27, tells PEOPLE. “That’s why it wasn’t just a visit —they’ve announced that partnership with us to ensure that longevity, and they’ve said they will come back when it’s midway through the build and when it’s up and running.”
“This is them coming to help make a big difference with a long-lasting project — instead of them coming here and saying hi and leaving again,” she adds.
This is the third site that Padwick and herLife at No.27initiative have run.Prince Williamand Princess Kate’sRoyal Foundationis matching the funding that is raised, alongside British Airways.
“Mental health in itself is a massive project for them, alongside gardening and horticulture, so this brings the two together, which is what we do. They were incredibly interested,” Padwick says. “And it means a lot to them.”
The clients at the South Wales center already have “a wide selection of therapy options available, but these will give another therapy option,” Padwick adds. “Once we open it up to the community, it will enable those who maybe can’t access this kind of thing at the moment.”
The convening power of the royal couple is also making its mark, she adds, as organizations have been rallied to help.
“I usually do this on my own — it’s normally me with a spade,” she says. “It is amazing that they have been able to connect me with them to help build it.”
IAN VOGLER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
“Their focus is creating a long-lasting partnership but also helping people connect and bringing people together,” she says of the couple. “They have smoothed the wheels so that it is easier for us to fundamentally do what we want to do and not get stuck in trying to do it.”
Padwick said the residents and their families didn’t know anything about the impending visit until the previous evening.
“It has been a whirlwind. There was a lot of nerves but a lot of excitement around too,” she says.
The fact that the couple came and showed such interest, she says, “gives people that feeling that they matter. For me and the organization, it is a little nod that ‘we really support you, we are with you and we’re hearing you.’ The fact that they wanted to spend time speaking to people either running and setting the site up or those who will be benefitting from it. That meant a lot.”
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King Charles III’s son and heir was an air ambulance pilot for about three years after leaving the Royal Air Force.
source: people.com
