Kate Middleton news 2015: Secretly visits Women's prison
The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, made a surprise visit recently to a women's prison near Woking, Surrey.
According to the Daily Mail UK, the princess was seen visiting inmates that are battling alcohol and drug addictions.
Kate specifically requested for the visit to be a secret until after she left the facility for security reasons, and to avoid having media follow her. The women inmates were also not told that the Duchess of Cambridge will come, but was advised that they will have a visitor that day. They were only told about their visitor's identity just before the princess arrived.
Kate was seen wearing an ivory and gray tweed dress (The Fold) during her visit at the HMP Send. The visit was arranged for her by the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust, or RAPt.
Around 280 women inmates make up the population of HMP Send, and many of these women were put behind bars due to murder.
The duchess, who is also a patron of Action on Addiction charity, spoke to some of the prisoners. Kirsty, a former inmate who was lucky to have spoken to Her Royal Highness, said that Kate "really puts you at your ease." "When royals visit prisons you kind of think it's for show, but you could see she was genuinely interested in addiction and mental health," Lacey, another former inmate, said. Lacey also credits RAPt for saving her life, and helping her overcome her drug addiction.
About a day after the duchess' visit, Kensington Palace released a statement from her. Her Royal Highness said that drug addiction plays a destructive role in one's life, and failure to do early intervention will lead to profound consequences. "I am grateful to the women I met for sharing their difficult personal stories with me. It is encouraging to learn how organizations like RAPt are offering specialist support to help people break the cycle of addiction and look forward to a positive and crime-free life," Kate concluded.
