The Duchess of Cambridge loves chatting to little ones whenever she's on a royal engagement and youngsters at the Ark Open Farm in Newtownards in Northern Ireland seemed excited to meet a real-life princess. In footage captured by Cool FM, Kate, 38, asked two children about the best thing they had seen at the family-run attraction. One parent said: "I think they thought you were going to be wearing your crown today." Kate laughed and said: "I know, I'm really sorry." She added: “George and Charlotte are very sad that they couldn’t come and meet you and see this very cool farm.”
The Duchess was dressed in a smart-casual ensemble for the trip, wearing a pale blue roll-neck jumper under her Barbour jacket, with black skinny jeans and her trusty Penelope Chilvers boots. She accessorised with a new pair of banana leaf style earrings.
READ: Kate Middleton makes surprise visit to farm in Northern Ireland - best photos
© Photo: Getty ImagesKate was wrapped up for her farm visit
Kate was able to meet a whole plethora of animals at the farm on Wednesday, including an alpaca, lambs and a corn snake called Sophie. Her whistle-stop visit in Northern Ireland was in support of her '5 Big Questions on the Under Fives' survey, which she launched last month.
© Photo: Getty ImagesKate met with kids on the farm
The mum-of-three met with parents and grandparents at the farm to discuss their experiences of raising young children. Kate has already carried out visits to Birmingham, Woking and London, in connection with the early childhood survey, which aims to spark a UK-wide conversation on raising the next generation and will run until 21 February.
MORE: Kate Middleton makes farm clothes look chic on royal visit to Northern Ireland
Over the past eight years, the Duchess has spent time meeting with families across the country and hearing about the issues they deal with day-to-day, in addition to speaking with academics, experts, organisations and practitioners. In May 2018, the Duchess convened a steering group of experts to focus on how to bring about positive, lasting change in this area.
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