Kate Middleton, Jill Biden Join Forces To Highlight Importance Of Early Education

Kate Middleton and Dr. Jill Biden joined forces for a special royal engagement Friday for an advocacy the duchess is passionate about.

The Duchess of Cambridge and the first lady sat down for a roundtable discussion on the importance of early childhood on lifelong outcomes at an elementary school in Cornwall, England, as the G7 summit got underway. They heard from several U.K. and U.S. representatives working in the early years sector.

"I'm committed to this for the long term," Middleton, whose work as a royal in the past decade has focused on early years support and children’s mental health, was quoted by People as saying. "I hope that our two countries can keep sharing data knowledge and best practice for years to come."

"I'm really interested in how we can best prepare the next generation to become parents themselves. So, actually the focus isn't on parenting itself, but actually how can we give them the tools so they are having their babies and raising their children with these greater tools," Prince William's wife continued.

Middleton explained that her work on early childhood was focused on "prevention." While working with experts in the field over the years, they've explored the idea that providing adequate support for parents and children alike during the kids' first, formative years in life could help prevent social challenges such as "addiction, poor mental health and violence in the home."

The duchess went on to say that it was essential that the science is translated for parents to make it "accessible and usable and making sure parents' mental health is best supported and all those around children raising the next generation today. Ultimately, my hope is that we change the way we think about early childhood, really for generations to come."

"I really do feel the best investment for our future health and happiness lies in the first five years of life. Only by working together in a holistic way are going to be able to achieve that," Middleton added.

Meanwhile, Biden, a veteran educator, said that much of what Middleton had shared has "touched my life."

"I taught in a psychiatric hospital for five years.... I've seen, you know, what the children's environment, and the effects that that has," the first lady shared, adding that she believes they "are moving in the right direction" with their discussion.

Biden also praised their focus on educating fathers, noting that the pandemic lockdowns have highlighted the importance and difficulties of caregiving to parents who are not usually at home.

Meanwhile, a number of Twitter users were very pleased to see Biden and Middleton together and praised them for being an inspiration to many.

"Two absolutely fabulous, amazing, phenomenal, and inspirational, women doing such wonderful and important work. Absolutely love it," one user commented on Kensington Palace's post about Middleton's meeting with Biden.

"Their joint engagement was really good and I loved that they focused on the Early Years.. a very important subject! I’m sure our Duchess and the First Lady got along just fine," another person wrote.