Kate's early years campaign is her 'life's work'

By Sean Coughlan

Royal correspondent

Cinema screenings, celebrities and scientists are promoting the Princess of Wales's campaign about the vital importance of children's early years.

Early childhood "fundamentally shapes our whole lives", she said, launching her Shaping Us campaign in London.

TV presenters Fearne Cotton and Rochelle Humes and rapper Professor Green are among the celebrity backers.

The early years campaign has been described by palace sources as the princess's "life's work".

Royal sources said that Catherine's interest in early years was not because she is a mother of three children, but because she had been struck on visits by how often people's difficulties in areas such as mental health and addiction had their origins in their early years.

"It affects everything from our ability to form relationships and thrive at work," said Catherine, about the long legacy of positive or traumatic experiences in early childhood.

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Speaking at the project's launch at the Bafta headquarters in London, accompanied by Prince William, Catherine said the years up to the age of five were the "building blocks for life".