The Duchess of Cambridge carried out an unannounced engagement today; making a surprise visit to the Amnesty International UK office for a conference on young people's mental health. Kate's attendance was in support of patronage the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families.


Kensington Palace said Kate's attendance reflected her "interest in early intervention in children's mental health to help young people get support at an early age to prevent problems later on." They added "During the conference HRH heard key note speakers from the field of resilience research and met with young people and staff leading the ground-breaking HeadStart programme which focuses on building mental health and resilience in children and young people across the country."


The Anna Freud Centre said they were "delighted" to welcome their Patron to the Conference. The organisation added "HRH is a committed champion of children's mental health and wellbeing and it is fantastic to have her here". The conference was co-hosted by the charity.


An overview before the conference got underway.


The Duchess met attendees.


More on the conference: Improving young people�s mental resilience and wellbeing: Learning from HeadStart:

'This conference is the first in a series of biennial events presented by the Big Lottery Fund in collaboration with the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families.
HeadStart is a five-year National Lottery funded programme set up by the Big Lottery Fund to give young people aged 10- to 16-years-old the tools they need to overcome life�s challenges and prevent serious mental-health issues from developing. Six local authority led HeadStart partnerships based in Blackpool, Cornwall, Hull, Kent, Newham and Wolverhampton are designing new approaches to providing support when and where it is needed, focusing on developing young people�s emotional resilience from an early age.
The Evidence Based Practice Unit (Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and UCL) is working with Big Lottery Fund and the HeadStart partnerships to collect and evaluate evidence about what does and doesn�t work locally to benefit young people now and in the future.
The conference warmly invites professionals from research and delivery/commissioning backgrounds to come together at a crucial time in children�s mental health support and research to collaborate. It is an opportunity to hear emerging learning from the six HeadStart partnerships based around England alongside international learning from pre-eminent key note speakers from the field of resilience research; Professor Ann Masten, Professor Michael Ungar and Professor Sir Michael Rutter.'

Young people from all over the country were invited to join a panel discussion.


An attendee @magsnoodle said she was "very impressed that she stayed for most of the day; not just a fleeting visit."


The Duchess wore her Tory Burch Bettina Coat which she debuted in New York in 2014.


The metallic tweed garment offers a tailored fit and long sleeves. It originally retailed for �515.

Tory Burch

More from the product description:

'Our Bettina Coat is a textured take on a tailored outerwear style. The material � a cotton blend, woven with boucl�, slubbed and metallic yarns � updates the look of classic tweed with a horizontal-stripe effect and a hint of shine. It has an easy, streamlined cut that is universally flattering and features slit pockets and a row of hidden snaps for a clean finish.'

In 2014, the Duchess styled the coat with black jeans and a black turtleneck once again. She chose the same pieces again today.


In this photo, we can see Kate's black boots. Middleton Maven and several of you pointed out they appeared to by Aquatalia.


Kate accessorised with her Mappin & Webb Empress earrings.

Mappin & Webb

It was great to see Kate attending the conference today. It enabled her to expand her knowledge on mental health; hearing from experts, those working in organisations in the field and young people sharing their stories. William, Kate and Harry hope to grow and expand their campaign, Heads Together, over the next several years. It's important to be as informed as possible in order to do so effectively. She was also supporting her patronage the Anna Freud Centre and her presence meant the conference received widespread coverage.

Speaking of Kate's patronages, it was announced today two of her charities plan to merge.


'The Art Room has merged with Place2Be to extend and diversify the type of support offered in schools to improve the emotional wellbeing of pupils, families, teachers and school staff. The Art Room provides a group work intervention in schools using creativity and art to improve the wellbeing of pupils experiencing emotional or behavioural difficulties.
Under the merger The Art Room will continue to run its provision from eight sites in Oxfordshire, London and Edinburgh. In the coming months, the two organisations plan to pilot ways of integrating The Art Room provision with Place2Be provision, evaluating the impact to inform future developments.
Catherine Roche, Chief Executive of Place2Be said: �At a time when the profile of school-based mental health support has never been greater, we are pleased to be able to extend our offering for schools as part of a whole school approach to mental health. There is an obvious and natural link between the work of our two organisations, and we are looking forward to exploring opportunities to integrate more closely in order to support more children and young people.� 
 Lisa Harker, Chief Executive of The Art Room added: �We are very excited by the potential for our two organisations to work effectively together, harnessing the strengths and potential of both organisations to support more children, schools and families in more effective ways.�

An added benefit of a royal patron is working with other organisations under the same umbrella. William, Kate and Harry's Charities Forum aims to bring together their charities offering them the platform to update and collaborate. I expect Place2Be and The Art Room discussed and explored the opportunity to work together, though the Forum initiated the bilateral partnership. You can read the full press release here.