Not your average tea party! Duchess Kate joined a team of tiny “dino scientists” for a mini–fossil dig to bid farewell to Dippy the Diplodocus on Tuesday, November 22. Dippy is a dinosaur skeleton cast that has been on display at London’s Natural History Museum for the past 111 years and will now be shown on tour throughout the U.K.
The Duchess of Cambridge joined 20 youngsters to send Dippy off in style with a dinosaur-themed tea party. Clad in a black-and-teal floral dress by L.K Bennett, she also joined in on painting “dinosaur eggs” with the kids.
“Does anyone like T. rex?” the royal, 34, asked the kids. “George likes T. rex. I think probably because it’s the noisiest and scariest.” The Duchess also revealed that her 3-year-old son with husband Prince William is currently obsessed with “dinosaurs and volcanoes.”
After spending the morning at the museum, Duchess Kate changed into a black Preen cocktail dress and attended the Place2Be Wellbeing in Schools Awards at Mansion House in London. At the event, she connected with a mom named Ceri Knapton who shared that her 13-year-old son Ethan, who was awarded with the Young Person Champion Award, is battling autism and Asperger’s syndrome.
“The Duchess just leaned over and said to me, ‘I’ve got to give you a hug as a mom,’” Knapton told reporters. “I couldn’t believe it. It was such a kind gesture.’”