Kate Middleton visits Leeds in England.Photo:Zak Hussein/SplashNews
Zak Hussein/SplashNews
Kate Middletonis learning more about her own family history during her latest royal engagement.
Princess Kate, 41, is widely praised for her impact on fashion lines and designers that she wears, and she spent the day learning more about the heritage and innovation in an industry that plays such a high-profile role in Britain.
Kate Middleton visit Leeds in England.Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images
Kate visited AW Hainsworth, a family-owned heritage textile mill on the outskirts of Leeds. Her paternal ancestors were owners of a local woolen manufacturer and merchant William Lupton and Co., which was sold to AW Hainsworth in 1958.
Kate’s great-grandfather Noel Middleton, who married Olive Lupton in 1914, was a director of the company. Noel and Olive had three sons including Peter Middleton, Kate’s grandfather and the dad of her father, Michael.
“She had had a chat with her parents, and they had been filling her in,” Rachel Taylor, a member of the Hainsworth family whose father was the sixth generation running the company, tells PEOPLE. “They had obviously done some research. She spoke to a lot of people today. We were able to put a bit of bells and whistles onto that.”
Kate Middleton visits Leeds in England.Samir Hussein/WireImage
Samir Hussein/WireImage
Shortly after arriving around midday, the Princess of Wales toured the mill and met some of the company’s apprentices and their mentors. She was told how they supply fabrics to a wide range of customers, from fashion and homeware brands to the Armed Forces. A holder of a Royal Warrant, which signifies that a company is a supplier to the royal family, AW Hainsworth’s fabrics were used during the coronations of both the lateQueen Elizabethin 1953 andKing Charlesin May.
Princess Kate even met Oliver, a mannequin sporting a guardsman uniform and traditional bearskin hat.
Zena Al Mausawe, operational excellence director, tells PEOPLE, “She loved it. It was great that she saw the scarlet tunic which is the iconic red fabric that everyone associates with Buckingham Palace and the guards. It was great how she was trying to feel everything and get the tactile experience as well.”
She adds that the royal “loved the smell of the wool and the texture of it and the handle of it.”
Kate Middleton visits AW Hainsworth on Sept. 26, 2023.Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images
They also showed her the manufacturing process, taking the material from yarn to fabric and how traditional machinery and techniques still have vital roles to play in the industry.
At AW Hainsworth, they are proud of how they both have many people who’ve worked there for decades — and there are eight generation Hainsworths among them — but also how they bring on new trainees and apprentices.
“She was really interested in the demographic in the mill,” Al Mausawe says. “We’ve tried very hard to get succession plans in so we have quite a range of very young people and very experienced people, which helps us pass on knowledge and maintain that knowledge in the business.”
“It was really great,” she adds. She was interested in everything we showed her. She has a genuine interest in textiles and the heritage. She saw every stage."
In fact, Princess Kate stayed at the event at least 30 minutes longer than expected!
“The fabric was made here,” managing director Amanda McLaren tells PEOPLE. “It was really nice to bring that out and share it with her. She recognized it immediately. She said, ‘Oh my goodness, I remember that dress!’ For us, it was a nice little touch at the end. But for her, it was about coming here and understanding better a fully integrated mill and the importance of having socialist skills and expertise that we can pass on to the next generation.”
Kate Middleton visits Leeds in England.DANNY LAWSON/POOL/AFP via Getty
DANNY LAWSON/POOL/AFP via Getty
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Kate Middleton in Leeds.Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
It was one of two textile manufacturers that she visited on Tuesday. After Leeds, Kate headed around 84 miles west to Lancaster to another factory to see another heritage textile company: Standfast & Barracks, which is a printworks dating back to 1924. Now part of the Sanderson Design Group, it uses both conventional printing techniques and groundbreaking digital inkjet technology.
The outing comes hours after Buckingham Palace announced thatKing CharlesandQueen Camillawill welcome Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, and his wife, First Lady Kim Keon Hee, to the U.K. for astate visitin November.
The upcoming state visit may mean an exciting fashion moment is on the horizon for Princess Kate. It’s likely that she will join other royals insporting a tiara and ballgownfor a state banquet during the visit.
source: people.com
