The Duchess of Cambridge visited Imperial College in London on Wednesday to hear about the work that national charity Tommy's are doing to reduce rates of miscarriage, stillbirth and premature birth.
To mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, Kate met parents who have been supported by the charity and gone on to have rainbow babies, a baby born after a previous loss.
Staff from Tommy's and Sands – which is a charity that provides support to bereaved parents – talked about the importance of emotional support for the whole family, and the practical help they offer to anyone affected. The Duchess also met children who have been born thanks to specialist care at Tommy's research clinics.
READ: One father shares his personal journey of miscarriage and stillbirth for Baby Loss Awareness Week
WATCH: Kate Middleton meets parents who have suffered baby loss during emotional visit with Tommy's charity
© Photo: RexThe Duchess heard moving accounts from families who have lost babies, including that of Clare Worgan, who now works for the bereavement charity Sands, which funds research into stillbirth, premature birth and miscarriage.
Ms Worgan told the Duchess that she spent three days in hospital in Manchester after her daughter Alice was stillborn in September 2017.
"We spent those three days cramming in a lifetime's worth of memories," she said.
"When she was born, she was absolutely perfect. Her birth was literally the best thing that ever happened to me. And also the worst thing that ever happened to me.
"When we went home our lives had been turned upside down. We had been devastated."
Up to then Ms Worgan had been a project manager for a firm of civil engineers but she went back to university and trained as a midwife, and now works for the bereavement charity Sands training health professionals how to help families when the worst happens.
The Duchess told Ms Worgan: "It's so brave of you to be able to talk so openly. A lot of the research, a lot of the support for organisations, is being driven by parents who have been through this experience, and want to help others. It is so inspirational."
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© Photo: RexKate was also introduced to Obiélé and Nii-Addy Laryea, who lost two babies in pregnancy before coming to a Tommy's clinic in London, where the team performed a cervical stitch operation that kept their now two-year-old son Tetteh-Kwei safe in the womb until he was old enough to survive.
Obiélé told the Duchess that when she was pregnant previously, after her first miscarriage, doctors initially refused her request to have a cervical stitch to prevent another one, but when they finally did, it was too late.
The Duchess, she said, was "quite thrown" that Obiélé was allowed to have a second miscarriage.
Obiélé said [of Kate]: "You could almost see it in her face, 'Are you OK?' I'm fine. I sometimes think to myself, if I hadn’t had the second miscarriage, I would not have heard about Tommy’s."
MORE: Natasha Kaplinsky speaks publicly for first time about experiencing multiple miscarriages
© Photo: Getty ImagesWearing a floral face mask and a blue midi dress, Kate was also given a special Tommy’s candle, designed by Plum & Ashby, to allow her to take part in the global Wave of Light event to mark the end of Baby Loss Awareness Week at 7pm on Thursday 15 October.
Candles will be lit across the world to remember all babies lost, and people can join in by sharing their candle on social media using #WaveOfLight.
Baby Loss Awareness Week is now in its 18th year and focuses on offering bereaved parents the chance to commemorate their babies’ lives, as well as raising awareness in the UK.
© Photo: RexKate then met medical experts at the University's Institute of Reproductive and Development Biology, part of Tommy's National Centre for Miscarriage Research, to hear about their groundbreaking work to understand the science behind baby loss in order to prevent it.
An estimated one in four pregnancies ends in loss during pregnancy or birth in the UK, and Tommy's funds pioneering medical research to help find the causes and to support women and their partners at every stage of their pregnancy.
© Photo: RexThe Duchess also heard about COVID-19 trials taking place at the research centre, which aim to better understand the risks of the virus to pregnant women and their babies.
© Photo: RexProfessor Phillip Bennett, director of the Institute and Tommy’s National Centre for Miscarriage Research at Imperial, said after Kate's visit: "One in four women experience miscarriage at least once in their reproductive lifetime, and most never find out why because healthcare professionals often simply don’t know; this can and must change.
"By finding the root causes of miscarriage, we can take steps to stop it from happening.
"For example, we know that around half of all early miscarriages are not due to genetic abnormalities, so there must be underlying causes that we can treat."
With additional reporting from HELLO!'s Online Royal Correspondent Danielle Stacey.
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