THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have shown their support for an innovative Scottish festival which is challenging preconceived ideas about mental health during a visit to Dundee.
William and Kate, along with Prince Harry, are making the emotional and psychological wellbeing of young people a key focus of their official and charitable work.
The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival – an annual event held in October – stages everything from music, film and visual art to theatre, dance, and literature events.
The Cambridges met the staff and crew behind a moving and thought-provoking piece, In Her Shadows, a visual performance that explores a young woman’s relationship with her depression – and highlights the stigmas surrounding the illness.
The royal couple arrived at the Dundee Rep theatre where the performance will be staged tonight looking relaxed and Kate was appropriately dressed for a day in Scotland.
She looked elegant in an outfit by Scottish designer Christopher Kane which included a kilt.
The royal couple, who are the Earl and Countess of Strathearn in Scotland, are making their first visit to Dundee, a key centre of the UK’s video gaming industry which is undergoing a major transformation headed by a £1 billion waterfront regeneration project.
Prince William greets the crowd (Gordon Robbie / DC Thomson)
Crowds had gathering outside the theatre in anticipation of the royal visit and the couple went on a brief walkabout, saying hello and shaking hands.
William and Kate spent the night in the nearby Scottish university town of St Andrews, where they met as students. They booked in to the Old Course Hotel, overlooking the world’s most famous golf course, and are likely to have reminisced about their time as boyfriend and girlfriend.
The Cambridges are carrying out a full day of engagements in the city that will see them visit a centre providing drop-in and other services for teenagers, join an anti-bullying workshop and meet a group of leaders in the Scottish mental health sector.
Dundee’s past and future achievements will also be celebrated when they tour explorer Captain Scott’s ship, built in the city for his 1901 Antarctic expedition, and recognise winners of a UK-wide Bafta game design competition for children and teenagers.
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