The Duchess of Cambridge has made her first post on Instagram.
The 37-year-old royal and her husband Prince William paid a second visit to the SOS Children’s Village in Lahore, Pakistan, on Thursday (17.10.19) after their Airbus A330 RAF Voyager jet was forced to make an emergency landing due to an electrical storm.
The couple were so taken back by the orphanage community – which houses more than 150 boys and girls who have been through hardship – that they decided to head back there and spend more time getting to know more of the children after they surprised three orphans at their joint birthday party earlier that day.
In a post on the Kensington Royal account, Catherine shared a series of photographs from the tour, including one of William holding hands with and hugging two young boys at the National Cricket Academy and another of his wife having a giggle with a group of girls.
Catherine’s message reads: "The community at the SOS Village is built around family – and the best possible family you could imagine – where everyone comes together to nurture, love and protect the children in their care.
"These vulnerable children, many who have come through traumatic circumstances, are nurtured in this caring environment and are able to form these quality relationships that they so desperately need to thrive. – Catherine."
During their first visit, Catherine said the children and their boarding house mother "reminded" her and William, 37, "exactly what family means" and praised the charity for transforming children’s lives and providing them with a "fairer chance in life".
The mother-of-three shared: "Being here in Pakistan this week, William and I have seen on several occasions how family is at the heart of your culture. Parents, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents all play important roles – you have reminded us exactly what family means.
"You have shown us too that it is not simply a term that describes the relationship between blood relatives.
"Instead it describes those special bonds we share with those who make us feel safe and supported. It is the quality of those relationships that matters.
"Earlier this year I talked about the fact that it takes a village to raise a child.
"The village we have seen here today is the best representation of that ideal that I could have possibly imagined.
"Together as a village you are transforming children’s lives and providing them with strong foundations to support all their families.
"You have created a home, where children are given the love, protection, and support that will enable them to have a fairer chance in life.
"Here, women who were once vulnerable, now play the most vital of roles as mothers and it is most heartening to see that you are not doing this alone."
During their five-day royal tour, the couple also headed to the same holy site William’s late mother, Princess Diana, visited in 1991, the Badshahi Mosque, and the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.
Duchess Catherine makes Instagram debut
