It couldn’t have been more of a contrast to the glitter of last night’s state banquet.
But the Princess of Wales and the US First Lady looked equally at home out of their finery as they joined a group of Scouts ‘in the wild’ at Windsor this morning.
Catherine, 43, invited Melania Trump, 55, to join her for a fun last engagement together before she departs the castle to join her husband Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer at the Prime Minister’s country home at Chequers in Buckinghamshire.
Kate wore a skirt by Ralph Lauren and a scarf from Sudbury Mill in Suffolk, where she visited last week to watch the production of the silk jacquard and help weave. She also wore a khaki suede jacket and brown cashmere knitted vest from Me+Em.
The two ladies met up with a group of Scouts Squirrels – the youngest part of the UK Scouting organisation and designed for four to five-year-olds – who were working to earn their ‘Go Wild’ badge in Frogmore Gardens, in front of Frogmore House.
The gardens are on the estate where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle lived from 2019 at Frogmore Cottage, a Grade-II listed two-storey, stucco-faced house.
In 2023, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were asked to vacate the property – which had been a gift from Queen Elizabeth II – after stepping down as senior royals.
The estate is also the site of the 17th century Frogmore House, a royal residence since 1792 and where the Sussexes had their wedding reception in 2018.
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The Princess of Wales and First Lady Melania Trump at Frogmore Gardens in Windsor today
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Melania Trump meets a group of young children at Frogmore in Windsor this morning
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The Princess of Wales and The First Lady spend time with the Squirrels at Frogmore Gardens
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First Lady Melania Trump meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore
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The Princess of Wales and First Lady Melania Trump visit Frogmore Gardens in Windsor today
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
The Princess has been joint president of the Scouts with the Duke of Kent since 2020.
Today, Catherine and Melania arrived separately and met away from the cameras before walking down the gravel path into the picturesque gardens together, where the children – dressed in bright uniforms in honour of the red squirrel – had been excitedly busying away on their activities.
They were met by Dwayne Fields, the Chief Scout, who invited the ladies to take part in an activity making pictures of animals out of leaves they had, Catherine sitting on the floor and Melania, wearing trousers, a suede jacket and flat pumps, using a small plastic seat.
The princess chatted happily about the kind of things the children had been doing. ‘What are you doing? What are you drawing? Come and show me. Wow,’ she said, as the children chatted excitedly away.
‘Have you got any concerns hidden away in your basket? I like doing this with my children. I had such fun doing this when I was your age.’
Dwayne invited the First Lady to sit down and asked for volunteers to help her.
‘This is the First Lady of the United States. Do you know that big country .. you are going to help Mrs Trump here with the leaves we found in the garden,’ he said.
Melania was told that she could draw any animal she liked – and chose to draw a surprisingly good bear, helped by Mabel, five, who enjoyed the activity so much she even sat on her lap.
‘Where [sic] you want to put this? she asked her little helpers as they stuck down the leaves. ‘That is so beautiful, well done.’
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
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The Princess of Wales and The First Lady spend time with the Squirrels at Frogmore Gardens
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
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The Princess of Wales and The First Lady spend time with the Squirrels at Frogmore Gardens
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First Lady Melania Trump meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
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The Princess of Wales plays with children at Frogmore Gardens in Windsor today
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
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The Princess of Wales and The First Lady spend time with the Squirrels at Frogmore Gardens
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
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First Lady Melania Trump meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
Next it was time to join two more groups of youngsters who were excitedly making ‘bug hotels’ out of boxes, sticks and straw.
Mabel was so keen on the First Lady that she held her hand and joined her, sitting on her lap again.
Melania was asked what her favourite bug was. ‘A ladybug!’ she smiled. ‘The First Ladybug,’ one of the youngsters joked. ‘What is your favourite? ‘ She asked one of the other children.
‘A butterfly, yes beautiful, ‘ she added, ‘I like butterflies, very cool.’ Another children said a bee. ‘Yes and they can make you honey,’ she beamed.
The children then asked them to join them in a parachute game, taking side of a large piece of silk and flapping it, trying to get balls down a hole in the middle.
Both laughed as the children excitedly ignored the command ‘gentle shakes’ and shook it wildly.
Afterwards the youngsters took seats on bales of hale covered with rugs in a semi circle to hand out their badges.
Dwayne said: ‘We have all earnt a badge today, ‘go wild’ badges will be issues and it’s very special because the First Lady and the Princess are going to be handing them out.’
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The Princess of Wales and First Lady Melania Trump at Frogmore Gardens in Windsor today
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First Lady Melania Trump meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
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The Princess of Wales and The First Lady spend time with the Squirrels at Frogmore Gardens
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First Lady Melania Trump meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore
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The Princess of Wales and The First Lady spend time with the Squirrels at Frogmore Gardens
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
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First Lady Melania Trump meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore
The children were asked to come up in threes, shake hands and take their badge from one of women. ‘Well done congratulations, ‘ the princess beamed.
Afterwards he asked for Pru Pybus, five, Ezekiel Alba-Leonce, six, to come up and gave them each a very special Squirrels badge, to give to each of the visitors to commemorate the day.
Pru handed hers to the princess and Ezekiel to the First Lady. ‘Thank you very much,’ the princess said. ‘Thank you,’ Melania added.
The women then hosted a picnic for The Squirrels in the gardens, organised by the Princess who had arranged for a special packed lunch to be given to each.
And as part of their lunch, each of the children were due to receive sandwiches containing honey made by The Princess of Wales herself from the Wales family’s hives at Anmer Hall.
As well as honey in the sandwiches there was Anmer Hall honey in their homemade granola bars.
In addition, The First Lady gifted a jar of White House honey to each of the children as a memento of their very special day. The gifts of honey were wrapped in white boxes, with red ribbon.
Chatting to Dwayne before they left, the First Lady revealed she had also brought over a gift from the scouts in the US to give to their British counterparts, prompting the British chief scout to take off his neckerchief and give it to her as something to take home.
‘Thank you so much, that is so kind,’ she said, before she and Catherine walked back to their cars.
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The Princess of Wales meets members of the Scouts’ Squirrels programme at Frogmore today
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Melania Trump meets a group of young children at Frogmore in Windsor this morning
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The Princess of Wales and First Lady Melania Trump at Frogmore Gardens in Windsor today
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Kate wore a dark green suede jacket for the engagement while Melania also opted for suede, choosing a tan colour
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Kate through herself into the children’s activities today, laughing as she took part in the games
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More children joined in as Kate took the lead with one of the outdoor activities
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Melania was pictured with the children as they took part in arts and crafts projects
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Meanwhile, Kate entertained the young scouts with a cuddly toy
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Melania appeared animated as she took part in the children’s art projects today
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The Princess of Wales and the First Lady were joined by two of the Squirrel Scouts as they talked to one of the scout leaders
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Kate and Melania appeared relaxed and comfortable as they spent the morning together
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One little girl held Melania’s hand as they strolled in Frogmore Gardens
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For one activity, the Squirrel Scouts along with their leaders formed a circle with Kate and Melania
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Kate smiled as she looked at a picture made by one of the young Squirrel Scouts
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The princess also took part herself, taking the time to draw a picture on a piece of car while members of the Squirrel Scouts and their leaders looked on
Afterwards Pru and Ezekiel chatted excitedly about their morning and showed off their badges.
Ezekiel sweetly told reporters that he had met ‘the First Woman and the Princess of England.
‘My favourite bit was collecting the leaves,’ he added. “It’s lot of fun because we get to do lots of things and my mum’s the leader.’
Pru added: ‘We made bug hotels and pictures with the princess. And we got to give her a badge. ‘
Speaking before their arrival Dwayne, who has been chief scout for a year, said: ‘For the Princess and First Lady to invite us here it shows how highly regarded the scouting movement is and the difference we make. ‘
Praising the princess for her hands-on approach the role, he added: ‘Having someone with the profile of the Princess of wales as joint president is incredible. Young people see it and it’s another demonstration of how we recognise the people involved.
‘I think this is the greatest youth movement in the world. Scouting start right here is the UK and is something we have exported right round the world, even to America. The model is very similar, getting young people to come together and learn teamwork, a sense of community and build their own skills.
‘Studies have shown that the sooner you start young people on this journey of non formal education, the better their life prospects become. ‘
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Kate appeared excited to be spending the morning outside with the young scouts
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She animatedly showed her picture to the young children, who appeared equally excited to see her
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Melania sat at a crafts table with members of the Squirrel Scouts and their leaders, with one little girl sitting on the First Lady’s knee
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The Squirrel Scouts were taking part in nature activities on the Windsor Castle estate to earn their Go Wild badges
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Kate stopped to offer one of the young children a piece of fruit which might have come from one of the trees on the estate
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Kate and Melania both chose autumnal shades for the outdoor activities today
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Kate responded to one of the Squirrel Scouts as she tried to show her something in the garden
He added that it was also crucially important to thank and highlight the work of their scouting volunteers: ‘Every single week they support almost half a million children. We wouldn’t be the organisation we are without them.’
Afterwards he spoke about the ‘incredible’ day they had. ‘The Princess of Wales is an advocate for the outdoors and young people so to have both those aspects here today has been amazing.
‘The First Lady was amazing, she came out and joined some o our young people making artwork. Their interactions was really key. She had a keen interest in nature and being kind and those are key themes for us in the Scout movement. ‘
The wellbeing of young children is something which is important to both The Princess and The First Lady, a spokesman explained.
The Princess, who has been joint president of the Scouts with the Duke of Kent since 2020, has long been passionate about the power of enabling children and young people to experience the natural world.
Today’s event came after a lavish state banquet at Windsor Castle yesterday evening for Mr and Mrs Trump, making a second historic state visit to the UK.
Also this morning, Queen Camilla took Melania on a tour of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House at Windsor Castle, the largest and most famous dolls’ house in the world.
The dolls’ house was built between 1921 and 1924 for Queen Mary, consort of King George V , by the leading British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Queen Camilla and Melania Trump look at Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House at Windsor Castle today
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Melania Trump is taken on a tour of Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House at Windsor Castle today
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Queen Camilla and Melania Trump look at Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House at Windsor Castle today
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla visit the Royal Library at Windsor Castle this morning
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Camilla and Melania Trump look at miniature books during a visit to the Royal Library today
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla visit the Royal Library at Windsor Castle this morning
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First Lady Melania Trump watches school children drawing in their miniature books today
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Camilla and First Lady Melania Trump with school children holding up their miniature books
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla visit the Royal Library at Windsor Castle this morning
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Camilla and Melania Trump look at miniature books during a visit to the Royal Library today
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla visit the Royal Library at Windsor Castle this morning
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla look at a collection at the Royal Library at Windsor Castle
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla visit the Royal Library at Windsor Castle this morning
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Camilla and Melania Trump look at miniature books during a visit to the Royal Library today
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla visit the Royal Library at Windsor Castle this morning
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla look at a book in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle today
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Melania Trump and Queen Camilla visit the Royal Library at Windsor Castle this morning
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US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stand next to King Charles III and Queen Camilla as they bid their farewells while they depart Windsor Castle this morning
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King Charles III bids farewell to US President Donald Trump at Windsor Castle this morning
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The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive for the state banquet at Windsor Castle last night
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Queen Camilla, King Charles III, Donald Trump and Melania Trump at Windsor Castle last night
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US President Donald Trump delivers his speech last night as King Charles III and the Princess of Wales listen during the state banquet at Windsor Castle for his state visit
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The state banquet was hosted by King Charles III and members of the Royal Family last night
The stunning construction contains tiny works from over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftspeople and manufacturers of the early 20th century.
Mrs Trump was then given a tour of the Royal Library and some of its priceless treasures.
