Kate Middleton explains significance of photo of Princess Charlotte smelling flowers

Kate Middleton has shared a never-before-seen photo of four-year-old Princess Charlotte smelling flowers as a reminder of the significance of small moments and the importance of spending time outside. 

On Saturday, the Kensington Palace Instagram shared the picture in honour of the Duchess of Cambridge’s “Happy Mum, Happy Baby” podcast interview, hosted by Giovanna Fletcher.

During the interview, which aired Saturday, the duchess discussed her “very happy childhood,” and the importance of “doing simple things,” with her own children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

According to Catherine, one of her favourite things to do with the children is spend time outside, partly because it’s “so great for physical and mental wellbeing,” which is why the photo of Charlotte is so special to her. 

“I’ve got this one photo of Charlotte smelling a bluebell, and really for me it’s moments like that that mean so much to me as a parent, and I try every day to put moments like that in, even if they’re small or even if I don’t have time… but that in an ideal world is what I would like to do,” the duchess told Fletcher. 

“I think it’s so great for physical and mental wellbeing and laying those foundations. It’s such a great environment to actually spend time in, building those quality relationships without the distractions of ‘I’ve got to cook’ and ‘I’ve got to do this.’ And actually, it’s so simple,” she said.

The duchess also explained how impactful these experiences can be to children, telling Fletcher: “I think these experiences as well mean so much to children and the world that they’re in, which is a real adventure at their age.”

In the photo, taken in spring 2019 outside of the family’s country home of Anmer Hall in Norfolk, Charlotte can be seen holding the blue flowers as she crouches down to smell them. 

Considering the four-year-old’s outfit in the photo, it appears the duchess, who often takes candid photographs of her family, took it on her daughter’s past birthday. 

During the interview, the duchess used the opportunity to promote her survey “Five big questions on the under fives,” which is designed to foster conversations around parenting during the years of early childhood development.

“What we’re doing with the survey is asking people – what is it that matters for them in raising their children today,” the duchess said of the survey, which has received 200,000 responses so far.