The Princess of Wales is to undertake her first official foreign visit for three and a half years next week as she travels to Italy as part of her work for young children.

The visit will mark a significant step forward in her return to full-time duties after a series of health setbacks, including her cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy treatment.

Catherine, 44, has not been abroad on official duties since she joined her husband Prince William in Boston for his Earthshot Prize Awards in December 2022.

Her last solo visit was to Denmark in February of that year.

In January 2024, she was admitted to hospital for major abdominal surgery and later diagnosed with cancer which required a course of preventative chemotherapy and resulted in her taking a major step back from public life.

Although the future queen began a slow and measured return to public nine months later, confirming she was officially in remission in January 2025, she has not yet travelled overseas for work.

On Wednesday next week, however, the princess will fly to the city of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy for a two-day working visit with the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which she founded in 2021 and has described as her ‘life’s work’.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said the princess was looking forward to getting back to international travel, adding: ‘The Princess is much looking forward to visiting Italy next week and seeking firsthand how the Reggio Emilia approach creates environments where nature and loving human relationships come together to support children’s development.’

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The Prince and Princess of Wales at the MGM Music Hall in Boston for the Earthshot Prize Awards in December 2022. This was the last time Catherine went abroad on official duties

The ‘Reggio Emilia Approach’ to early childhood education is a world-renowned initiative, introduced shortly after the Second World War, to raising and teaching young children.

It emphasises child-led, experimental learning through relationships, collaboration and expressions such as art, drama and movements, with the natural world considered to be the ‘third teacher’.

It is understood that Catherine has been ‘keen to see it in action for quite a while’ as it harnesses two of her biggest passions: early childhood development and the natural world.

The trip to Italy is said to mark a pivotal ‘new milestone’ for the princess’s work with the Centre, and signals new global ambitions for both Catherine and her team.

Today, she will highlight that work as she launches a new resource for everyone working with babies, young children and their families in East London.

‘Foundations for Life: A Guide to Social and Emotional Development’ has been designed to strengthen understanding across the early years system of why social and emotional development matters so profoundly, and how these skills begin to take shape from the very earliest months of life.

To mark the launch, the princess will visit the University of East London to meet families, researchers and students, alongside leaders in further and higher education from across the UK.

These leaders have committed to embedding the guide within their teaching, training and professional practice.

Grounded in science and practical insight, and developed with early childhood experts, professionals and practitioners, the guide highlights the vital role of loving, responsive relationships in shaping children’s lifelong health and wellbeing.

It will be published on a new hub on the Centre’s website, bringing together all its resources for professionals and practitioners.

In the foreword to the guide, the Princess writes: ‘In a world which feels increasingly distracted, fragmented and digital… it is more important than ever to invest in what truly helps us to thrive: human connection.’

She emphasises that by the age of five, a child’s brain has grown to 90 per cent of its adult size, making early childhood a critical window for developing the social and emotional skills that will prove the bedrock of adult life.

She adds: ‘While our society often focuses on academic or physical milestones, research consistently shows that it is our earliest relationships, experiences and environments which lay the foundations for our future health and happiness.

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The Princess of Wales during a trip to Stenurten Forest Kindergarten in Copenhagen, as part of a working visit to Denmark in February 2022. This was Catherine’s last solo visit abroad

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‘The quality of our connections – with ourselves, with others and with the world around us – shapes how safe we feel, how we relate, and how we process experiences throughout our lives.’

The publication of the guide comes as new research from the Centre, ‘The First Five Years: A Parent Perspective’, shows that parents value opportunities to speak with knowledgeable, trusted practitioners and want clear, authoritative information from formal sources.

When professional support is limited or brief, parents often turn to friends, family or online advice.

Many report feeling overwhelmed by the volume of information available, which can create uncertainty and confusion at a time when reassurance and consistency matter most.

The new guide supports practitioners by setting out a shared, accessible repository of knowledge about social and emotional development.

This in turn aims to promote more ‘confident, consistent conversations with families’ and helps parents ‘recognise how warm, nurturing relationships… can lay the strongest possible foundations for their child’s future’.

During the visit to the university, the Princess will meet families with babies and young children to discuss the research and the importance of having a trusted network of professionals who can offer clear, consistent advice early in a child’s life.

She will also spend time at the University’s Institute for the Science of Early Years and Youth to see how its researchers use pioneering brain recording techniques to study how the diverse early living environments and relationships experienced by babies influence early stress – both in the child themselves and their parents and caregivers.

The princess will meet students on early years courses to hear how social and emotional development is taught, including the use of the Centre’s resources.

She will also meet vice chancellors and further education college chief executives from around the UK who have publicly committed to embedding this foundational knowledge into early years training.

The princess and her Centre say they want the social and emotional development of children to be put on an equal footing with physical and cognitive development by health and education professionals.

In the months ahead, the Centre will work closely with leaders across the early years system to embed this understanding into entry‑level training and ongoing professional development, helping to ‘create the conditions in which love can flourish and children can thrive’.