October
United for Wildlife's Global Summit
Prince William joined 300 leading figures from law enforcement agencies, conservation organisations and businesses at the summit, who are part of the worldwide United for Wildlife (UfW) network. The event was hosted by Lord Hague, Chair of The Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who shared the stage with several international organisations innovating and adapting their work in the collective fight to end the illegal wildlife trade. The summit emphasised the important role of the private sector and collaboration across sectors.
September
The Royal Foundation becomes The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales
Following the death of Her Majesty The Queen, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were created The Prince and Princess of Wales by His Majesty King Charles III. The Royal Foundation’s name updated accordingly.
July
Earthshot Prize now an independent charity
The Earthshot Prize formally became an independent charity after a hugely successful first two years as part of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The Prize and The Royal Foundation will continue to work in close partnership, and Prince William, who founded the Prize in 2020, will take on the role of President.
June
Centre for Early Childhood unveils findings of new research into public perceptions of early childhood development
The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood unveiled the findings of new research into early childhood development, as The Duchess of Cambridge and the Centre hosted a roundtable with the early years sector and Ministers and senior civil servants to discuss the results and the broader importance of early childhood development to society. Conducted by Ipsos UK, the research explores public perceptions of early childhood, focusing on three key areas: the prioritisation of the early years, the link between the first five years of life and lifelong outcomes for mental health and wellbeing and the support parents seek when raising young children.
May
The Duke and Duchess unite every radio station in the UK for the 2022 Mental Health Minute
The 2022 Mental Health Minute was broadcast across over 500 UK radio stations on Friday 13th May to mark Mental Health Awareness Week. The special recorded message, voiced by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, called on the nation to ‘lift someone out of loneliness’ by encouraging small acts of kindness to help someone who may be feeling lonely.
April
Colombia is the first country to sign United for Wildlife’s Buckingham Palace Declaration
Colombia became the first country in the world to sign up to United for Wildlife’s Buckingham Palace Declaration. Signed on Earth Day, this represents a commitment from the country to take affirmative steps to tackle the Illegal Wildlife Trade through a combination of policy and wider cooperation nationally, regionally and internationally.
March
Jubilee Tour
During their weeklong tour of Belize, Jamaica and The Bahamas, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge showcased some of The Royal Foundation’s work on conservation and Early Childhood on a global stage. As part of The Royal Foundation’s conservation work, they visited Earthshot Prize Winner, Coral Vita, at their coral farm in Grand Bahama. TRH also visited Shortwood Teacher’s College in Jamaica to meet students who are training to become early childhood education practitioners and talk about the work of The Centre for Early Childhood.
February
UAE Visit
In February, Prince William visited Dubai where he highlighted The Royal Foundation’s conservation work. HRH explored how United for Wildlife has been working with partners in the region promoting partnership working to counter the illegal wildlife trade, and showcased The Earthshot Prize’s work in incentivising change and helping repair our planet over the next ten years through the solutions created by the 2021 Winners & Finalists.
November
Emergency Responders Symposium & agreement
Emergency services across each of the home nations gathered for the first time to speak with one voice about the mental health of their workforces. At a specially convened symposium, the chief officers of each of the emergency services committed to a uniform approach to supporting the mental health of their emergency responder workforce. The commitment was announced as The Duke of Cambridge launched the Blue Light Together package of mental health support. This was the result of The Royal Foundation working together with emergency service leaders and partner charities to change the workplace culture on mental health and provide specialist support to emergency responders and their families.
October
The inaugural Earthshot Prize Awards
During a spectacular inaugural Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony, broadcast to millions worldwide on BBC and Discovery, and reaching an estimated 709 million people, the first-ever Winners of The Earthshot Prize were named. Each represents an extraordinary solution to our greatest environmental challenges and were awarded £1 million to scale their extraordinary work. The ceremony featured unforgettable performances from Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Yemi Alade, KSI and Shawn Mendes, stunning storytelling with an iconic speech from Sir David Attenborough, and was a truly pioneering production in sustainability, with a carbon footprint reduced by 98%.
June
The Duchess Launches The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood
The newly launched Centre will drive awareness of and action on the extraordinary impact of the early years, in order to transform society for generations to come, focusing on three areas of activity:
- promoting and commissioning high-quality research to increase knowledge and share best practice;
- working with people from across the private, public and voluntary sectors to collaborate on new solutions; and
- developing creative campaigns to raise awareness and inspire action, driving real, positive change on the early years.
April
An Open Letter to the World
In an historic moment to mark Earth Day, members of the Earthshot Prize Council signed an open letter calling on the world to channel the same spirit of innovation and possibility from the fight against COVID to our greatest challenge: repairing our planet.
March
United for Wildlife 5-year Anniversary
Five years on since the first signing of the Buckingham Palace Declaration, the United for Wildlife Taskforces have grown to nearly 200 members and over 50 partners connected across the globe, who have worked together to make tangible contributions to law enforcement cases. Together they have supported over 150 law enforcement investigations, facilitated the search of over 120 suspicious shipments, enabled 49 arrests, and trained over 80,000 industry employees in counter illegal wildlife trade practices.
November
Landmark Research on the Early Years
In a Keynote Speech at The Royal Foundation’s Forum on the Early Years, Her Royal Highness said “Parenthood isn’t a prerequisite for understanding the importance of the early years. If we only expect people to take an interest in the early years when they have children, we are not only too late for them, we are underestimating the huge role others can play in shaping our most formative years too.”
November
The Duchess of Cambridge unveils the #5BigInsights
The Duchess of Cambridge unveiled the findings of the biggest ever UK study on the early years, in a milestone moment for her work on the importance of early childhood in shaping the rest of our lives and broader societal outcomes.
Read more about the #5BigInsightsThe launch of The Earthshot Prize
The Royal Foundation and Prince William launched The Earthshot Prize – the most prestigious global prize for the environment in history. The Prize will incentivise change and help to repair our planet over the next ten years, a critical decade for the Earth.
September
Emergency Responders Senior Leaders Board convened by The Duke
The Duke of Cambridge and The Royal Foundation convened the first meeting of the new Emergency Responder Senior Leader Board – the first of its kind, bringing together leaders from across all of the UK’s emergency services on the issue of mental health.
August
The Heads Up FA Up Final
The season-long Heads Up campaign culminated at the Heads Up FA Cup Final – marking an historic moment in football, as for the first time ever, the world’s oldest domestic cup competition – the FA Cup – dedicated its final to changing the conversation on health.
July
Mentally Healthy Football Declaration Signed
As a legacy of the Heads Up campaign, the football family came together to sign the ‘Mentally Healthy Football’ declaration, committing to building a mentally healthy culture at all levels of the game, now and for future generations. This landmark moment sawsignatories representing clubs, leagues, and organisations across the whole of the UK football family recognising that mental health is just as important as physical health.
July
The Foundation announced a £1.8 Million Fund as part of its response to COVID-19
The Royal Foundation granted nearly £1.8 million to ten leading charities at the heart of mental health and frontline support, through a bespoke fund set up as part of the organisation’s response to COVID-19. The grants built on the Foundation’s previous months of work to support those on the frontline of the pandemic in the UK, and the mental health sector.
July
A Renewed call to end the Illegal Wildlife Trade
The Duke encouraged the international community to come together to end the illegal wildlife trade for good, pointing to the increased focus on the public health risks of the wildlife trade and greater awareness of the dangers posed by zoonotic diseases as key reasons to act now.
July
Supporting BBC Education's 'Tiny Happy People' Initiative
The Duchess of Cambridge supported The BBC’s Tiny Happy People initiative, providing a range of free digital resources designed to support parents and carers in developing children’s language from pregnancy to the age of four.
April
Supporting those on the frontline of responding to COVID-19 in the UK
The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will do all it can to support those on the frontline of responding to COVID-19 in the UK.
February
Early Years podcast interview on Happy Mum Happy Baby
The Duchess of Cambridge recorded her first ever podcast interview on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum Happy Baby, where they talked about The Duchess’s passion for the early years, her landmark 5 Big Questions survey, and some of her experiences of motherhood.
Find out more about the 5 Big QuestionsFebruary
Heads Up Weekends see all football games dedicated to mental health
For the first time in history, every fixture across the men’s and women’s football calendar was played in support of the Heads Up campaign to kick off the biggest ever conversation around mental health.
January
Landmark survey ‘5 Big Questions’ is launched by The Duchess of Cambridge
The Duchess of Cambridge and The Royal Foundation launched 5 Big Questions on the Under 5s – a landmark survey on the early years aiming to spark the biggest ever conversation on early childhood, and ultimately hopes to help bring about positive, lasting change for generations to come.
January
An historic moment for Heads Up as all games are delayed by a minute
In an historic moment, every game in the third round of The FA Cup was postponed by a minute in support of The Duke of Cambridge’s Heads Up campaign.
As part of this activation, The Royal Foundation worked with Public Health England’s Every Mind Matters to provide fans with simple steps they can take to support their mental health.
Find out more about #TakeAMinuteJanuary
The launch of The Earthshot Prize
The start of 2020 saw The Duke of Cambridge hail a decade of action to repair the Earth with the launch of the most prestigious environment prize in history.
November
Step into Energy launches with new international employment programme
The Royal Foundation launched Step into Energy – a new international programme in partnership with Houstan Texas to support veterans who wish to enter into the energy sector, helping them build a career in the energy industry in the UK and the US.
Read more on the launch of Step into EnergyAugust
The Heads Up campaign launches at The FA's Community Shield
The season-long campaign spearheaded by The Duke of Cambridge will see a partnership between Heads Together and The FA harness the power and influence of football to change the conversation on mental health.
June
New charity structures for The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
The Royal Foundation became the principal charitable and philanthropic vehicle for The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will establish their own new charitable foundation with transitional operating support from The Royal Foundation. Both couples will continue to work together on projects in the future, including on mental health programme Heads Together.
May
Heads Together and The FA partner on new mental health campaign, Heads Up
The Duke of Cambridge announced an exciting new partnership between Heads Together and the FA, which is set to use the power of football to inspire the biggest conversation ever on mental health. Harnessing the influence and popularity of football, Heads Up will be a campaign to remind us all that mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness.
May
The first United for Wildlife joint Taskforce meeting
The Duke of Cambridge attended a meeting of United for Wildlife’s taskforces for the financial and transport sector, which was the first time the two groups came together to explore what more can be done to work together to combat illegal wildlife trade. This joint meeting highlighted the benefits of bringing these industries together and showcased some of the successes that have already been seen through their approach.
May
Heads Together legacy project, Shout, launches in the UK
Delivered by Mental Health Innovations, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex launched Shout – a free, 24/7 text messaging service that connects people experiencing mental health crisis with trained volunteers who provide help at a time when it is most needed. Having been piloted in the UK for the past year, Shout’s body of 1,000 volunteers have already responded to 60,000 conversations.
Sign up to volunteer at ShoutFebruary
Mental Health in Education conference
Attended by The Duchess of Cambridge, this conference brought together delegates from across the mental health and education sectors to explore and discuss the benefits of collaborative working and what more can be done to tackle mental health issues in schools. The conference also included a session on The Royal Foundation’s Mentally Healthy Schools programme.
February
The Endeavour Fund Awards
The winners for 2019 were Kelly Ganfield, Nathan Forster and Shaun Pascoe, with each of them using sport and adventurous challenge as part of their recovery and rehabilitation following illness or injury in service.
January
The Duke of Cambridge in conversation with Sir David Attenborough
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, The Duke of Cambridge sat down with Sir David Attenborough to discuss the importance of the natural world and the urgent challenges and opportunities that will face the next generation of environmental leaders.
October
The United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce signs the Mansion House Declaration
Convened by The Duke of Cambridge and Lord Hague of Richmond, the United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce signed a declaration outlining six commitments helping them to work together.
Initially comprising of representatives from 30 global banks, experts on illegal wildlife trade and financial organisations such as Standard Chartered, HSBC, RBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan, these signatories will commit to “contributing to the global fight against IWT”.
Find out more about the United for Wildlife Taskforces
September
The Duke of Cambridge visits Africa
As President of United for Wildlife and Patron of Tusk Trust, The Duke of Cambridge travelled to Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya. During his trip, The Duke visited the Dar es Salaam port where he learned more about the works Tanzania is doing to combat illegal wildlife trade with support from the UK government.
September
The Coach Core Awards
Over 200 Coach Core apprentices and graduates travelled to Loughborough University to celebrate their achievements and take part in masterclass sessions with sports stars including Paula Radcliffe, Scott Hann and Laura Robson.
During the event, it was announced that Coach Core had been awarded almost £1 million of funding from Sport England to add 10 new sites over the next three years.
September
The Duchess of Sussex supports Together: Our Community Cookbook
In her first programme with The Royal Foundation, The Duchess of Sussex worked closely with the women she’d met at the Hubb Community Kitchen, who were united by their passion for cooking as a way of strengthening communities. Her Royal Highness wrote the foreword for Together, which features the women’s own personal recipes from across Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.
September
The Duke of Cambridge launches Mental Health at Work
Mental Health at Work is an initiative from Heads Together and Mind aiming to change the way that we approach workplace mental health across the UK.
At the launch, The Duke of Cambridge met with several people who have shown leadership in promoting good mental health in their own workplace, attended workshops that demonstrated the gateway and met with people trialling the system.
May
The Mental Health Minute broadcasts across the UK
For the first time in history, hundreds of radio stations across the UK came together to broadcast the #MentalHealthMinute – a one-minute message from some world-famous voices to let everyone know that whoever you are, however you’re feeling and whatever you’re going through, it’s okay to say.
Watch the video
March
The Duchess of Cambridge announces Early Intervention support
At a symposium hosted by The Royal Foundation, The Duchess of Cambridge delivered a speech about the importance of Early Intervention for children and families. The Duchess’s longer-term aim is to create a partnership between experts and organisations in order to build strong collaboration, and to raise awareness of issues like perinatal, maternal and infant mental health, and the need for parenting support and advice, as well as resources for schools and educators.
February
The Royal Foundation Forum
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attended The Royal Foundation Forum, which showcased the programmes run or initiated by The Royal Foundation and included a number of delegates who have been involved in key projects.
February
The Endeavour Fund Awards
The second annual Endeavour Fund Awards were held at Goldsmiths’ Hall, where The Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrated the achievements of wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women who had taken part in remarkable sporting and adventure challenges over the previous year.
January
The Duchess of Cambridge launches Mentally Healthy Schools
Mentally Healthy Schools is a website that gives teachers and school staff the resources they need to support children’s mental wellbeing.
The website was developed by the youth-focused charity partners of Heads Together: the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, Place2Be and Young Minds.
Find out more about Mentally Healthy Schools
November
The Duke of Cambridge launches the Stop Speak Support campaign
Following a key recommendation from The Royal Foundation’s Taskforce on the Prevention of Cyberbullying, The Duke of Cambridge launched the Stop Speak Support campaign – giving young people three simple steps to follow when they see someone being treated badly online.
October
Coach Core graduation
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex attended the graduation ceremony for 150 apprentices across the London, Glasgow, Essex and Wales programmes. Here, it was announced that Coach Core would expand its reach from seven location to ten, adding Middlesbrough, Bristol and Devon to the scheme.
October
Ministry of Defence mental health partnership
In 2017, The Royal Foundation and the Ministry of Defence signed an agreement to work together to change the conversation on mental health across HM Forces. The hope is that we can help our serving personnel to adopt a more positive and constructive understanding of promoting good mental fitness across the military.
Find out moreOctober
The Royal Foundation invests £2 million in Mental Health Innovations
On World Mental Health Day in 2017, The Royal Foundation announced it had granted £2 million to establish Mental Health Innovations – a mental health charity, developing new ways to help people talk about mental health using digital innovation, data-driven analysis and the experience of mental health experts.
Learn more about Mental Health InnovationsSeptember
United for Wildlife wins at Jackson Hole Film Festival
United for Wildlife’s stunning film I Am a Ranger won the award for the Best Micro Movie at the Jackson Hole Film Festival. The film explores the lives of rangers working Africa, the dangers they face and why they fight to protect wildlife.
April
The Mental Health Marathon
Heads Together became the Official Charity Partner of the 2017 London Marathon, and with 750 runners taking on the challenge to raise awareness for mental health, alongside 40,000 more running in Heads Together headbands, it became the first ever Mental Health Marathon.
April
Heads Together launches #oktosay campaign
Heads Together launched a series of films to encourage people to join the conversation around mental health. The #oktosay films, spearheaded by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex, featured people from all walks of life talking about the life changing conversations that helped them cope with their mental health problems.
February
The Endeavour Fund holds its first awards ceremony
The Duke of Sussex and The Duke of Cambridge attended the Endeavour Fund’s first awards ceremony, celebrating endeavour participants from the previous year and awarding prizes to veterans who have gone above and beyond in the adventure challenges they’ve taken on.
November
Coach Core celebrates its national roll out
After successful pilots launched in London in 2012 and Glasgow in 2014, Coach Core was able to expand its programmes nationally. The Duke of Sussex joined apprentices from London, Glasgow, Wales, Nottingham and Essex in the celebrations at Lord’s Cricket Ground along with Coach Core ambassadors Max Whitlock and Eboni Beckford-Chambers.
May
The Duke of Cambridge launches a Cyberbullying Taskforce
The Duke of Cambridge brought together a new industry-led taskforce to support young people and their families who have been affected by cyberbullying. The Royal Foundation Taskforce on the Prevention of Cyberbullying is made up of industry partners and a group of advisors from the sector to develop a response to the online bullying of young people, with a focus on 12-14 year olds.
May
Launch of the Heads Together campaign
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex brought together 8 leading mental health organisations for the launch of Heads Together – a campaign to change the conversation on mental health.
Find out more about Heads Together
March
The Transport Taskforce signs The Buckingham Palace Declaration
The United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce, formed of leaders of the global transportation industry, signed a historic declaration at Buckingham Palace to shut down illegal trafficking routes. The Buckingham Palace Declaration is a culmination of a work that has been hailed as “a game changer in the race against extinction” by The Duke of Cambridge. It contains eleven commitments to raise standards across the transportation industry and focuses on information and resource sharing.
Learn more about the United for Wildlife Transport TaskforceNovember
Emirates reveals its United for Wildlife airbus
In support of United for Wildlife, two Emirates A380 jets took to the skies wearing special livery featuring vulnerable wildlife that is threatened by poaching and the illegal wildlife trade. As a member of the Transport Taskforce, Emirates are committed to increasing awareness around the trafficking of wildlife products.
January
Coach Core celebrates its first graduation
Coach Core held its first graduation at St. James’s Palace, with the 33 graduating apprentices receiving their certificates from The Duke of Sussex and NBA player Carmelo Anthony. Along with a 92% completion rate, 92% of Coach Core graduates go onto positive exit routes within six months.
September
Invictus Games
The first ever Invictus Games, held in London, stood as a highlight in the year’s sporting calendar as an international, multi-sport adaptive event that embraced the respect for our Armed Forces and the strong desire to show the nation’s support for those who have sacrificed so much in service.
July
Palliative Care pilot launched
Together, The Royal Foundation and True Colours Trust developed and jointly-funded a palliative care programme to test innovative ways to support families of children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. The programme partnered volunteers with families to help provide practical support in the home.
February
The Duchess of Cambridge launches M-PACT Plus
Working in partnership with Place2Be and Action on Addiction, The Royal Foundation launched a major initiative to provide early support for children, parents and families affected by parental drug and alcohol misuse.
December
Walking with the Wounded and The Duke of Sussex trek to the South Pole
The Duke of Sussex joined a team of twelve injured veterans on a 200-mile Antarctic trek. It was a gruelling three-week trek to the South Pole, pulling 11st (70kg) sleds in challenging conditions. The expedition combined a team of UK, US, Canadian and Australian veterans that had suffered life-changing injuries in service.
September
The Duke of Cambridge convenes conservation organisations to form United for Wildlife
The Duke of Cambridge brought together an unprecedented collaboration of seven of the world’s most influential conservation organisations along with The Royal Foundation to form ‘United for Wildlife’. United for Wildlife tackles the global challenges facing the world’s natural resources so they can be safeguarded for future generations, leading the way to substantially increase the global response to major conservation crises.
July
The Coach Core programme is launched
The first Coach Core programme was launched in London at a sports festival in Rotherhithe. There, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Duke of Sussex met with the apprentices and took part in a variety of sporting activities. The Coach Core apprenticeship scheme gives young people aged 16-24 the chance to become the next generation of inspirational sports coaches.
May
The Endeavour Fund is launched
Sport can be a powerful tool for recovery, and The Endeavour Fund aims to inspire wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women to explore new physical challenges as part of this rehabilitation; rebuilding their confidence and rediscovering self-believe.
June
Partnership with ARK is announced
The Royal Foundation supported ARK in the development of their Expanding Horizons programme, with both organisations sharing a common vision and commitment to transform the lives of children.
April
The Foundation awards its first grant
The Royal Foundation awarded its first grant to Fields in Trust, a charity which protects parks and green spaces and promotes the cause of accessible spaces for play, sports and recreation in British cities and towns.
March
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge set up wedding gift fund held by The Royal Foundation
Ahead of their wedding, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge asked that anyone who wanted to give a wedding gift instead donated to their charitable gift fund. These donations were held in a dedicated account by The Royal Foundation and grants were distributed in partnership with the benefitting charities to ensure maximum impact.
September
The Royal Foundation is registered as a charitable organisation
From apprentices to veterans, community projects to national campaigns, from local action to global conservation, The Royal Foundation supports a broad and ambitious spectrum of activity. We bring people, ideas and resources together to understand issues, explore creative solutions and be a catalyst for long-term impact.
