The Princess of Wales was met by shouts of “we need more funding” and “tell them the truth” from women inmates when she visited a prison’s mother and baby unit.
Kate travelled to HMP Styal in Cheshire to meet inmates from the women’s prison using the unit provided by the charity Action for Children, which the princess supports as royal patron.
The event was Kate’s fifth public engagement in just over two weeks as she continues her gradual return to official duties since completing her cancer treatment.
Kate met women inmates in the mother and baby unit (Phil Noble/PA)
As she walked through the prison grounds, dozens of women inmates leaned out of the windows in the accommodation blocks to catch a glimpse of the royal visitor.
There was a loud wolf-whistle and cat-calls, but also some shouts of: “We need more funding. Tell them the truth.”
The princess smiled, waved and said hello to other inmates who were leaning through the windows of a Portacabin.
The mother and baby unit provides a dedicated place for new and expectant mothers serving a prison sentence or on remand.
Prisoners live in a separate area of the institution and are supported to care for their babies by trained prison staff and early years and family support practitioners.
The Princess of Wales during a visit to a mother and baby unit inside HMP Styal in Wilmslow (Phil Noble/PA)
The unit aims to establish and maintain a strong bond between mother and child, in line with evidence that a key psychological process of attachment takes place between babies and their primary caregiver in the initial months of life, which influences later development.
Kate has made the promotion of the early years development of children one of the key elements of her public work.