The Princess of Wales has turned her hand to film, personally launching a new video series on the healing power of nature as an antidote to our increasingly digital world.
The series, which will be released on Kensington Palace’s social media channels, began today with ‘Spring’, a three-minute film narrated by Catherine and including footage of her and Prince William on the Isle of Mull earlier this month.
The other three short films will be released across the course of the year, with Summer, Autumn and Winter editions in due course.
Referring to how she sought comfort and strength from being outdoors with her family during her cancer battle last year, she says: ‘Over the past year, nature has been my sanctuary.
‘The natural world’s capacity to inspire us, to nurture us and help us heal and grow is boundless and has been understood for generations.
‘It is through nature, that we can fully understand the true interconnectedness of all things, the importance of balance and the importance of renewal and resilience. Connecting to nature helps us to experience a deeper sense of ourselves, the world around us, and each other.’
She adds: ‘Spring is a season of rebirth, of hope and new beginnings. From the dark days of winter, the outside world quietly awakens with new life, and there comes a sense of optimism, anticipation, and positive, hopeful change.
‘Just as nature revives and renews so too can we. Let us reconnect to nature and celebrate a new dawn within our hearts.
‘It is often from the smallest of seeds that the greatest change can happen, and in this ever-growing complex world, we need to hold on to what connects us all.
‘Spring is here, so let’s make the most of it together.’
The princess also makes clear how much she hopes that her message will provide an antidote to the ‘increasingly complex and digital world’.
Signing off the post with ‘C’ – a sign that it personally comes from her – Catherine writes: ‘This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week, we are celebrating humanity’s longstanding connection to nature, and its capacity to inspire us and help us to heal and grow in mind, body and spirit.
‘As we confront the challenges of an increasingly complex and digital world, the importance of the connection between humanity and nature takes on even more significance.
‘The Mother Nature series is a reminder and reflection of the beauty and complexity of the human experience. It is a tribute to the lessons we can learn from nature, helping us to foster our own growth, strengthen our bonds with the world around us and each other.’
‘Mother Nature’ is described as a ‘celebration of the raw, untamed beauty of the changing seasons across the UK’.
Her husband, William, has previously campaigned to get the social media giants to take more responsibility for their platforms and spoken of his concern that an entire generation is growing up on their phones.
The launch of the series coincides with the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, which begins today.
Sources say it is being ‘spearheaded’ by the princess and will highlight humanity’s longstanding connection to nature, as well as nature’s capacity to inspire us and help us to heal and grow in mind, body and spirit.
Growing up in the countryside, the future queen has always enjoyed promoting the healing power of nature.
Indeed she worked closely on a Back to Nature garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2019, and has used her longtime relationship with the Scouts to focus on enabling children and young people to experience the outdoors and natural world.
It has also been a theme of her charitable work – engaging with children in nature through the Natural History Museum and seeing the benefit that nature has for children and their families receiving hospice care at East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices and more recently, Ty Hafan in Wales.
It is understood that the Princess of Wales is keen to spotlight the beauty of the changing seasons in the UK, and in doing so aiming to remind everyone just how much good can be done by spending time in nature – wherever they live in the country.