OCC meets the Royal Princes

On 30 August 2017, OCC Co-founder Patricia Ferrall, past patient Martin Atkins and his father Martin Atkins Senior, and current patient Imaan Khan met the Royal Princes and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton at Kensington Palace, to mark 20 years since the life-changing impact Princess Diana’s kindness had on our charity.

Princess Diana visited our clinic in 1997. Her visit and the subsequent donation from The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund had a bigger impact than anything else on our charity, enabling us to continue treating babies, children and pre/post-natal mums on a donate-what-you-can basis.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Sweet Pea Appeal Princess Diana was due to launch just six days after she died, we’ve been growing a Sweet Pea Vine of Kindness and have been collecting memories and thoughts on kindness from patients and supporters past and present. We’d always hoped to present these to the Royal Princes, and on 30 August, that hope was realised.

Prince William, Prince Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, met our OCC team in the White Garden of Kensington Palace, where they presented the Royals with a basket of over a hundred messages of kindness on paper sweet peas. They were interested to hear Martin Atkins’ account of meeting Diana at the clinic 20 years ago, when he was just seven years old. They showed great interest in our work and we hope this will be the start of a new relationship with the Royal Princes.