Spice up your life! One day after Prince William presented Victoria Beckham with an OBE award for her services to the fashion industry, he rubbed shoulders with another Spice Girl, Emma Bunton— a.k.a. Baby Spice.
Unfortunately, they weren’t learning the choreography to any of the legendary girl group’s songs during the April 20 visit. Instead, they were there doing something much more important. Along with his wife, Duchess Kate and brother Prince Harry, Prince William watched Bunton’s Heart Breakfast radio show broadcasted to a group of college students preparing for a future in media at Global Academy in Hayes, West London.
The royals also took part in a roundtable discussion with Bunton, co host Jamie Theakston, LBC’s Nick Ferrari and Capital’s Roman Kemp, about the importance of discussing mental health.
“I’m not sure the royal party has been this close to a Spice Girl,” Theakston joked, seemingly unaware of the honor the elder prince had just bestowed on Posh Spice a day earlier. (Harry famously first met the Spice Girls at a concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1997, and his dad, Prince Charles, attended the Spice World premiere later the same year, to name just a couple of the run-ins the royal family has had with the pop stars.)
Duchess Kate, looking elegant in a red Armani suit, said it was essential for parents to begin discussing mental health with children at a young age. After two mothers admitted feeling in need of a friend while raising small children, she echoed their sentiments. “It is lonely at times. You do feel quite isolated,” the Duchess remarked. “But actually so many other mothers are going through exactly what you’re going through. But it’s being brave enough, like you obviously were, to reach out.”
The visit was a part of the royals’ ongoing mental health initiative, Heads Together, which aims to erase the stigma surrounding mental health issues. Earlier in the week, Prince William FaceTimed with Lady Gaga in a livestream on the Royal Family’s Facebook page. In the chat, the royal praised the pop star for the similar work she does to help those struggling with mental illness. “Harry, Catherine and I really felt this was such an important area that throughout all our charitable work, whether it was the veterans, homelessness, addiction, most of it seemed to stem back to mental health issues,” he said. “I read your open letter you wrote the other day, and I thought it was incredibly moving and very brave of you to write down such personal feelings.”
