The Princess of Wales was visiting a silk mill on Thursday
The Princess of Wales visited a family-run weaving mill to highlight the heritage of the British textile industry and jobs in the creative industries. Kate, 43, stayed at Suffolk Silk Mills in Sudbury for longer than had been timetabled, and afterwards took the time to speak to schoolchildren who had waited outside the business for her.
She arrived into the mill’s car park in a dark blue Range Rover, with crowds on the pavement peering through a metal fence to catch a glimpse of her. Kate went inside the building and first went to the design department, asking designers about the different fabrics and collections.
“It must be amazing seeing the artwork go onto fabrics,” she said. “Do you know which customers then take this design on? It must be such a proud thing being able to see your artwork on the catwalk or in other people’s collections.”
She also spoke about how the staff got into the industry and their backgrounds. Kate asked: “Did you know these techniques were still being produced and the manufacturing side of things still happened here in the UK?
“Because I think so much now is sent abroad and particularly this notion of fast fashion. What’s so lovely about this is the fact there’s still that very hand-made, artisan, it’s still very much celebrated.”
She later went downstairs and was shown how a loom works, pressing a button to start the machine and see it in action.
In a later conversation, with a fabric inspector at the business, Kate said: “One of the things I’m really keen to do is support the creative industries and actually showcase how many amazing job opportunities there are for young people within manufacturing.”
At the end of the visit, Kate was given a boxed gift of some fabric from the business, then posed for a group photo with staff. Media covering the visit said her Range Rover was waiting for her, ready for her to leave, but Kate looked towards the crowds at the fence.
She spoke to an aide before walking out of the car park to speak to some of the well-wishers who had been waiting on the pavement, the other side of the metal fence.
Kate spoke to a group of children from St Gregory Primary School in Sudbury, telling them: “Thank you for waiting, I saw you when I came out.”
She asked what school year they were in, and if it was nice being back at school. When they replied “no”, she told them “that must have meant you had a really good holiday”.
Afterwards Daniel Woodrow, headteacher at St Gregory Primary, said: “I think you can tell from the children’s smiles and from the fact they’re still shaking a little bit now just what a special gesture it was for the princess to come over and see them and spend some really quality time with them asking them questions, listening to their answers. They’re absolutely buzzing and I still have goosebumps that she came over and did that, I’m so happy for them that they had this experience today.”
School pupil Molly Broughton, 10, said it was a “once in a lifetime opportunity”, adding: “I can’t believe it happened.”
Beth Humes, an account manager at Suffolk Silk Mills – who helped show Kate around – said afterwards: “I thought she seemed really clued up about the industry and also the process. Obviously she’s visited mills before so she understands a bit about how it works but her questions were really insightful, she was asking about what the demands of our customers are and also about the creative process as well.”
The 35-year-old said there were “not a lot of companies like ours around any more, we’ve been going for a long time, since 1720, and the fact companies like this still exist is really special so it’s important to spread the word”.
“It was lovely, she’s a really really lovely lady,” she added.
