Kate has invited children's mental health charity Place2Be to the Kensington Palace State Apartments for their annual awards ceremony
The Duchess of Cambridge welcomed charity guests to her London home tonight as she attended an awards ceremony at Kensington Palace.
Kate, now four months pregnant with her second child, was joined in the Kensington Palace State Apartments by her children's mental health charity Place2Be for their first ever Wellbeing in Schools Awards.
Looking sophisticated in a black Hobbs top and skirt by Jenny Packham she arrived for a reception at the Queen's Gallery at 6.20pm and was introduced to Place2Be Chief Executive Benita Refson.
After the reception, the ceremony began at 7pm in the King's Gallery where Kate was due to present the Child Champion Award to a young person who has overcome their own struggles and gone on to help others.
Read below for a full recap of events.
The Duchess of Cambridge will host an awards ceremony in her London home Kensington Palace tonight.
Kate, who is now four months pregnant, has invited her children's mental health charity Place2Be to the Kensington Palace State Apartments for their annual awards ceremony.
She will meet the 20 finalists and present the Child Champion Award to a young person who has overcome their own struggles and gone on to help others
Kate has been patron of Place2Be since 2013 reflecting her interest in children's mental health.
The charity runs classes in 230 schools across the UK and has supported around 90,000 children.
Kate and William confirmed back in October that they were expecting their second child, and the Duchess is now around 17 weeks pregnant.
The royal baby is due towards the end of April 2015.
As with Prince George, Kate has suffered from severe morning sickness in the early stages of her pregnancy, and was absent from the public eye for a number of weeks after the announcement was made.
Kate's last royal engagement was on Thursday last week, when she attended the Royal Variety show with Prince William.
She wore a full length Diane Von Furstenburg gown to The Palladium for the occasion, with only a slight baby bump showing.
Prior to the performance, the royal couple met boy band One Direction.
The Duchess of Cambridge is a Royal Patron of the children's mental health charity Place2Be.
Tonight she will attend the first-ever Place2Be Wellbeing in Schools Awards.
The Duchess will present an award to a child or young person who has made an exceptional contribution to the mental health and emotional wellbeing of their peers within the school community, by working with the charity.
Our royal reporter Victoria Murphy will be at the event tonight providing live updates.
Follow her Twitter profile here @QueenVicMirror, and we'll bring you all of her tweets right here.
The event, due to start shortly, is being held at Kensington Palace.
Looking forward to attending the #Place2BeAwards tonight in Kensington Palace with the Duchess of Cambridge
— Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) November 19, 2014 The Awards, supported by the Garfield Weston Foundation, will take place in the State Apartments of Kensington Palace.
The winners in the seven award categories will be announced in front of guests, including the 20 finalists.
The awards celebrate those often unsung heroes who make a real difference to the life of their school community through their commitment to children's emotional wellbeing.
Parents, grandparents, teachers and others who have seen the life-changing work of Place2Be for themselves, were asked to nominate their school leaders, teachers, support staff, parent and children champions, Place2Be staff and volunteer counsellors.
We have our first picture from the event at Kensington Palace tonight.
This is the gallery where Kate Middleton will soon be greeting guests and award winners shortly.
Our reporter Victoria Murphy posted the picture below on her Twitter profile.
The Queen's Gallery in Kensington Palace where Kate will greet guests and award winners shortly #Place2BeAwards pic.twitter.com/cXy7qpKqh5
— Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) November 19, 2014 "We are greatly honoured that HRH The Duchess of Cambridge will be attending the first-ever Place2Be Wellbeing in Schools Awards," says the charity's Chief Executive Catherine Roche.
"The Duchess is committed to improving the mental health and emotional wellbeing of children in the UK. Her support for Place2Be has helped to shine a spotlight on the need to tackle children's mental health at the earliest possible stage.
"These Awards give us the chance to thank and celebrate the achievements of our volunteers, our staff, head teachers, parents, school colleagues and, of course, most importantly, the children and young people themselves."
THE Duchess of Cambridge welcomed charity guests to her London home tonight as she attended an awards ceremony at Kensington Palace.
Kate, now four months pregnant with her second child, was joined in the Kensington Palace State Apartments by her children's mental health charity Place2Be for their first ever Wellbeing in Schools Awards.
Looking sophisticated in a black Hobbs top and skirt by Jenny Packham she arrived for a reception at the Queen's Gallery at 6.20pm and was introduced to Place2Be Chief Executive Benita Refson.
Kate and William moved into the central London Kensington Palace a year ago, spending £4.5 million of taxpayers money on renovations on apartment 1A.
Guests tonight will not get to see their private home, but the State Apartments for public events and entertaining are just a stone's throw from the apartment, meaning Kate did not have far to go for her engagement.
The Duchess, who has been Patron of Place2Be since 2013, was scheduled to meet the 20 awards finalists.
This is our first picture of Kate from tonight's event.
She has arrived in a Hobbs top and a Jenny Packham skirt.
Currently she is mingling with guests and greeting other charity members.
Kate has arrived in Hobbs top and jenny packham skirt pic.twitter.com/yK4ylwCO9W
— Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) November 19, 2014 Guests at the event have been praising Kate for her interest and hands on approach to her patronage.
Kate is the patron of a number of charity organisations, having supported SportsAction at a similar charity bash earlier this month.
The Duchess is still mingling with guests ahead of the ceremony at 7pm.
Everyone praising Kate for her interest and hands on approach to her patronage #Place2BeAwards pic.twitter.com/exJZN1b26S
— Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) November 19, 2014 The Duchess, who has been Patron of Place2Be since 2013, is scheduled to meet the 20 awards finalists.
Place2Be Chief Executive Benita Refson said: "This is a wonderful, exciting opportunity to honour our young people and schools in such a wonderful setting.
"The Duchess' total and utter belief in what we do and her commitment to children's mental health is incredible."
Kate has been meeting some of the charity's 'child champions'.
The Duchess spoke to Ashantae Ahmet, aged 12, at tonight's bash.
She is expected to meet around 20 prize winners at the Place2Be awards in Kensington tonight.
The Duchess of Cambridge meets Ashantae Ahmet, aged 12 - a Child Champion #Place2BeAwards finalist pic.twitter.com/GeWZJnQrC7
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) November 19, 2014 Finalists for the awards include 11-year-old Bailey Dunne from Highfield Community Primary School in Sunderland.
Thanks to Place2Be Bailey has gone from being a quiet boy to one who shows confidence and determination to do well.
He has been invited to speak in assemblies about the importance of looking after ourselves and now mentors other children in the school and was awarded Pupil of the Year for overall progress.
His nominator said: “Bailey has taught his peers that it is okay to be individual and that you don’t always need to follow the crowd to be successful and popular”.
Kate was also scheduled to chat to Bailey's Head Teacher Simon Marshall, who has been working to integrate Place2Be into schools over 14 years.
His inspirational leadership has enthused other Sunderland schools to invest in mental health.
His nominator said: “Simon’s inspirational leadership has ensured thatPlace2Be is not simply an additional service but is a set of values that can be seen in everything we do”.
The charity runs classes in 230 schools across the UK and has supported around 90,000 children.
Another picture of Kate at the event tonight.
Below you can see her chatting with supporters of the charity.
The award ceremony itself has started now, when the 20 prize winners will be announced.
Kate chatting to Place2Be supporters #Place2BeAwards pic.twitter.com/UmYYKKMIVw
— Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) November 19, 2014 The awards are now being presented at Kensington Palace.
There are seven Place2Be awards and Kate will present the last one.
Dozens of people are in the crowd watching at the gala event tonight.
#Place2BeAwards being presented pic.twitter.com/92XjQD16Ou
— Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) November 19, 2014 Here's a transcript of the Duchess of Cambridge's foreword for this evening's do.
In it she writes: "It is wonderful that this important area of children's emotional health is being recognised with these inaugural awards.
"The commitment, dedication and hard work that is going on across the schools involved with Place2Be is truly humbling."
Foreword by Duchess of Cambridge, signed Catherine, at tonight's #Place2BeAwards pic.twitter.com/u9qcSyXF21
— Ryan Hooper (@RyanJHooper) November 19, 2014 Kate presents 11-year-old Bailey Dunne with his award tonight.
The Duchess of Cambridge has been patron of Place2Be since 2013, reflecting her interest in child mental health and the importance of early intervention.
The charity aims to provide children with in-school mental health services at the earliest stage possible, to tackle problems before they can escalate.
Kate presents 11-year-old Bailey Dunne with his #Place2BeAward pic.twitter.com/TUQ7gwtar1
— Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) November 19, 2014 Here's a full length picture of Kate's outfit from this evening.
You probably wouldn't believe she was four months pregnant from this photo.
For the charity do in her own home she wore a black Hobbs top and skirt by Jenny Packham. More pictures to follow.
Photo: The tes @tes: The Duchess of Cambridge at the #Place2BeAwards http://t.co/TtnDPGpIDx http://t.co/gjwjL2PTos
— Duchess of C (@DuchessofC) November 19, 2014 One last award from this evening's do, which has now finished.
Place2Be founder Benita Refson collected a surprise award from Kate herself.
The audience applauded in recognition of all her efforts for the charity.
Cheers for Place2Be founder Benita Refson as she collects her surprise award from Kate #Place2BeAwards pic.twitter.com/BFsTRHcjkl
— Victoria Murphy (@QueenVicMirror) November 19, 2014 And tonight's charity awards do is now over, as is our live coverage.
Tonight the Duchess of Cambridge met with members of the charity Place2Be at her home in Kensington Palace.
She presented a number of awards at the gala event, to young children dedicated to bettering the lives of others.
Kate was widely praised by supporters for her dedication to the charity, of which she is a patron.
