Kate Middleton’s Reaction to Child’s Question at Royal Event Goes Viral

Kate Middleton’s interaction with a child during a hospice visit in 2013 has gone viral on social media, after footage of the exchange resurfaced on the video sharing site TikTok.

Kate has made a number of visits to hospices during the course of her 12 years as a senior working member of the royal family, becoming a patron of the East Anglia Children’s Hospices organization in 2012.

The princess has dedicated a large proportion of her time to working with children’s charities and initiatives, culminating in the founding of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in 2021.

The centre launched a large-scale awareness campaign in early 2023, seeking to bring issues that affect children from birth to the age of five to the forefront of national discussions.

Over the years, Kate’s interactions with young people have sparked a number of memorable moments, many of which have gone viral on social media.

Uploaded to TikTok by user princessofwales2022 on August 14, the viral clip shows the princess being asked for a hug during a visit to the Shooting Star House Children’s Hospice in England in December 2013.

After accepting a bouquet of flowers from two young girls during her visit, Kate was stopped from leaving as one of them threw their arms around the princess, asking: “Oh, give me a hug first?”

The child—later identified as five-year-old Demi-Leigh Armstrong—threw her arms around the princess’ legs which provoked a laughing response as the royal jokingly told her: “I might take you home with me!”

The clip, captioned “So Sweet,” has been viewed over 100,000 times on the social media platform so far, receiving in excess of 9,000 likes and numerous comments, many of which have praised the interaction.

“She always has time for the people. we all love her,” wrote one TikTok user of Kate.

“That’s special !! ❤️,” posted another, with a further comment reading: “She is a lovely princess 💎.”

Kate has seen her role within the royal family expand over recent months, taking on the more prominent position that comes with her title of Princess of Wales.

King Charles elevated William and Kate to the senior royal Wales titles after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. Since then, the couple has increased their presence in Wales and pursued their individual working passions; William with combating homelessness and Kate with early years development.

Launching her “Shaping Us” awareness campaign in January, the princess laid out her hopes for the project, saying: “As the campaign progresses, we will explore in more depth the importance of a child’s social and emotional world, the significance of relationships, and the impact of the surroundings and experiences a child is exposed to during these formative years.

“Together these play a key role in shaping our future lives. Yet they rarely get as much focus as our physical health and cognitive development.”

She continued: “Of course, by understanding our own childhoods—what has shaped our own beliefs, relationships, behaviours and feelings—we, as adults, are better placed to play our part in positively shaping future generations.”

“Those involved in raising children today need the very best of information and support in helping to achieve this mission – and this campaign aims to help do that too.”

The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, headed by Kate, gathers leaders in the field to contribute to research, fund and support studies connected with childhood development and support projects affecting change within communities.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s .

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