28 September 2023 , 14:46
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The Princess of Wales made a rare admission about a crippling condition she battled when pregnant after "striking a chord" with a father whose wife was struck by the same illness.
It came as Kate visited The Orchards, a centre for children with special educational needs and their families in Sittingbourne, Kent, as part of her 'Shaping Us' campaign, which looks to highlight the importance of supporting children and parents in all sorts of circumstances. There she met with Stephen Ikebuwa, who was at the centre with his son Nathan - and he shared with her that his wife suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum - a form of severe morning sickness - during her pregnancy with their child.
Kate had hyperemesis gravidarum - a form of severe morning sickness - in all three of his pregnancies (UK Press via Getty Images,)The condition causes severe vomiting during pregnancy and often requires hospital treatment, according to the NHS. Kate suffered from the condition in all three of her pregnancies and even had a spell in hospital during the early stages of her pregnancy with oldest child Prince George. Kate opened up about the condition before and mentioned in a podcast in 2020, that she was "not the happiest of pregnant people" while suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum during her past pregnancies.
And Mr Ikebuwa, 44, from Gravesend, Kent said: "It was nice meeting her and when I told her that my wife had hyperemesis gravidarum, it struck a chord with her. You can see her expression change; she went through the same thing. I remember one of her visits in a hospital she said something about how she had hyperemesis gravidarum. You can see her connection to the fact that my wife went through all that, and that really resonated with me.
Kate was dressed in a red Zara blazer with black trousers, a beige top and Boden shoes and was sporting a chignon hairstyle alongside her newly styled curtain fringe. Speaking in a children's playroom at the Orchards, the princess played with three-year-old Beatrice in an enrichment play pit filled with shredded paper.
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She told Beatrice "well done" after she was able to fit a large amount of shredded paper on a toy dog. The princess rubbed three-year-old Jaxon’s back and held his hand for a few moments while talking to his mother.
The mother of George, Charlotte and Louis was also keen to understand Portage, a home-visiting educational service for preschool children and their families. Janet Rickman, the chair of the National Portage Association, said Kate asked about the impact of portage services on parents of children with special needs. "You know being a parent is hard enough as it is if your child has got additional needs," she added.