With a new project focused on young children, Pippa Middleton appears to be following the lead of her older sister, the Princess of Wales, who champions early childhood development. According to the Daily Mail's Richard Eden, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis' maternal aunt and her husband James Matthews have been given the green light to establish a nursery at Bucklebury Farm.
"The couple snapped up the West Berkshire property for £1.5million in 2020. The nursery – for children aged between nine months and five years – will deliver 'strong social benefits', concludes the council, noting that there is a local shortage of 'early years places," Richard reported.
Pippa and her husband are said to co-own Bucklebury Farm in Berkshire with James' business partner James Murray. Earlier this year, the property's Instagram account revealed that the farm was considering opening a nursery. In a post, Bucklebury Farm wrote: "We Value Your Feedback! Bucklebury Farm is considering opening a nursery for children aged 9 months to 5 years. If you’re interested, please feel free to DM us or emailnursery@buckleburyfarm.co.ukto stay updated. We’d also love to hear your thoughts and suggestions-let us know what you think. 📚🚌."
Pippa and James, who wed in 2017, have two young daughters, Grace, 4, and Rose, 3, as well as a 6-year-old son named Arthur. The mom of three obtained her master's degree from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David in 2022. “Getting back into studying took some getting used to but I felt really well supported by the team at UWTSD. The nature of the course being divided into specific modules also meant that it was easier to compartmentalise what was required each term,” Pippa admitted at the time, via the university.
“The modules were all really varied and interesting allowing enough flexibility to channel the course to your passions – for me it was early years’ physical development,” she added. “I have enjoyed the balance of work and motherhood and getting back into reading, writing, and learning again.”
Pippa also expressed that she's "passionate about sport and exercise" and loves being with children. "I wanted to find a topic that combined these two and felt that there wasn’t enough information, knowledge or focus on early years physical development for mums particularly,” she said. “I wanted to learn to not only help my own children but to also continue work in the field to stress the importance of children moving from an early age.”
Pippa's older sister Catherine is committed to raising awareness about the importance of early childhood experience. The Princess of Wales, who launched The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in June of 2021, has previously said, "Our first five years lay important foundations for our future selves. This period is when we first learn to manage our emotions and impulses, to care and to empathise, and thus ultimately to establish healthy relationships with ourselves and others. It is a time when our experience of the world around us, and the way that this moulds our development, can have a lifelong impact on our future mental and physical wellbeing. Indeed, what shapes our childhood shapes the adults and the parents we become. But — and this is crucial to understand — even if we ourselves didn’t get the best start in life we can still break the cycle and develop the skills needed to raise the next generation better."
"What this means is that we need to go beyond physical needs and give focus to social and emotional needs too. Nurtured children are the consequence of nurturing adults. So to invest in children means also investing in the people around them — the parents, carers, grandparents, early years workforce and more. And therefore, transforming early childhood comes back to each and every one of us. There are so many ways in which we can all support, whether as private, public and voluntary sectors, as individuals or as communities," she continued. "Investing in a child is ultimately an investment in our future societal health and happiness, but to achieve this vision we need the whole of society to play its part."