The Royal Scandal | Prince William |

I Have Thorns Too

Ahead of the Royal Foundation Forum a detailed timeline has been put together to highlight the Duchess of Cambridge's most important work.

2011 - the duchess starts her work focusing on charities close to her heart. Children's hospitals, family breakdown, the arts, and early development for disabled children.

2012 - the duchess learns about the difficulties many children go through in their earliest years, working with programs like Grassroots and East Anglia's Children's Hospice which both focus on addiction and family breakdown.

2013 - in collaboration with the Royal Ballet Company the Duchess helps launch the Healthy Dancer Suite, a program to help train the mind as well as the body to encourage better lifestyles.

2014 - AUsome Ireland and the duchess host a conference to help the general public understand the needs of autistic people. Money raised went into funding the healthy education and wellness of neurodivergent kids.

2015 - The Royal Ballet branches their health program to their school, and the duchess is confirmed to be a researcher for the program that prioritises mental health and physical safety for the young students.

2016 - Inspired by the understanding that mental health is at the root of many social issues, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry launch Heads Together, a national campaign to tackle stigma and change the conversation around mental health.

2017 - Providing the next generation with mental health support becomes a key priority with the launch of Mentally Healthy Schools, a program set on providing well researched tools for educators and schools to use to help better the lives of their students. 

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February 17, 2018

Jaclyn runs a hand through her pin straight hair, brushing it back to clip her earrings in. It's a casual look today to match the event itself. William and her will both be touring Place2Be, a charity organization dedicated to providing emotional support for children. Technically, it is her patronage, but William had insisted he show his support for her by coming.

The thought brings some cheer to fight off the unease that she's been left with since her talk with Meghan. It distracts her from the ache and cry in her lower back, and she smiles to think that she won't have to make the long trek through the buildings by herself.

She hears him approach, feels him looming just outside her bubble, and spins to face him. The smile swallowing her face falls inch by inch until her whole expression has sunken sourly. "You're not ready."

Her hands fall from where they were lazily combing, and she stands from her vanity with tentative steps. This doesn't help her feel closer, just the opposite. She can't make sense of it, how she can sense and feel him all around her, but even when she reaches out to clasp his arm he's never really there. His eyes are not his own, unknowing and on the verge of coldness, and tired. So tired anymore.

He doesn't look at her, but the empty wall behind her, grim and withdrawn, but with her words something crackles in the air between them. His short intake of breath, the bracing of his shoulders all tells her one thing. He is still here, but he's about to disappoint her.

"Again?" She asks, arms crossing with a slight pout to her posture.

"My father needs to speak with both Harry and I." He grins but it's vacant all the same, just like the hand that settles on her shoulder. No warmth comforts her in their bedroom that's frigid at the best of times. Now she is a stone of glass so cold she might shatter under the weight of his hand.