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Prince & Princess of Wales

Pretty in princess pink: Kate and Mila meet at Holyroodhouse

The Duchess of Cambridge kept her promise to young Mila Sneddon, a five-year-old cancer patient when she wore a pink princess dress to meet her at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Earlier this month, Kate released a portion of her telephone call with Mila to thank her for participating in the Hold Still exhibition. Mila asked Kate during that call if she was wearing a pink dress, to which Kate replied: “I’m not wearing a princess costume right now, I’m afraid Mila… l I have to make sure I go and try and find myself a pink dress so that hopefully, when one day hopefully, Mila we’ll get to meet and then I’ll remember to wear my pink dress for you. Would that be nice?”

Kensington Palace shared a video of Mila’s mother surprising her daughter with the news that they would be meeting Kate for tea at Holyroodhouse on Thursday. The little girl was so overcome with emotion that she could only smile and give two big thumbs up before hugging her mother and starting to cry “happy tears.”

When Kate arrived to meet the youngster and her parents, she said, “I want to give you a big, squeezy cuddle. I love your dress. Can you give it a twirl?” Mila had chosen to wear a pink princess dress, too, and a toy tiara, though Kate did not sport one herself.

Speaking afterwards to ITV, Mila said that meeting Kate was “so good” because “I’ve never met a real princess in my life before.

“She really wanted to meet me because Daddy had to self-isolate to keep me safe from the coronavirus.”

For the Hold Still exhibition, Mila’s portrait of her greeting her father through the window as he isolated away from his daughter was one of 100 images selected by Kate to feature in a special exhibition about life in lockdown in the UK.

Lynda, Mila’s mother, captioned the portrait: “At first Mila did not understand why Scott could not come inside and would ask him ‘why can’t you come in Daddy?’  This photograph was taken on the first day of separation. After seven weeks of temporary separation and after being furloughed from his job, Scott was reunited with Mila. Looking back, I’m so proud of my daughter and how far she has come, the level of resilience Mila has shown during this unprecedented time is truly remarkable.”

About author

Jess Ilse is the Assistant Editor at Royal Central. She specialises in the British, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish Royal Families and has been following royalty since Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee. Jess has provided commentary for media outlets in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Jess works in communications and her debut novel THE MAJESTIC SISTERS will publish in Fall 2024.