Kate Middleton Was 'Relaxed and Welcoming’ During Children’s Hospice Visit: She ‘Stayed Much Longer Than We Expected’ (Exclusive)

Kate Middleton was relaxed, welcoming and stayed longer than expected at a visit to a children’s hospice in South Wales, according to those who interacted with her during the engagement.

The Princess of Wales, 43, visited Tŷ Hafan on Thursday, Jan. 30, as it was announced that she would take over for King Charles as patron of the charity, a role he has undertaken since 2001. Tracy Jones, director of family wellbeing services, showed Kate around and tells PEOPLE, “She immediately gravitated to the children and families — she spent quality time talking to every child and their parents.”

“It’s been the most inspiring visit,” Jones adds. “She’s so natural and has such an aura of engagement about her.”

Related: Kate Middleton Makes Emotional Visit to Hospice with Close Connection to Princess Diana

“She crouched down and was straightaway on the level of the children. If they were in a wheelchair she crouched at that level, if they were on the floor she would be at the level,” she continues. “We were seriously impressed with how she could stay in a crouch as it’s not that comfortable!"

"She instinctively seemed to know where to touch a child that was going to provide the connection but not cause any distress or startle a child. She was looking at the children, even if she was talking to the parent. It’s what we do, as we’re used to working with children who are nonverbal," she adds.

"But actually for people [who] aren’t used to working with children, the easy temptation is not to engage with the child. The fact that she literally got on the floor and knew she wanted to spend the time that way — she wasn’t looking to any of us for ‘It’s time to move on.’ We were led by her, and she stayed much longer than we expected," Jones continues.

During the visit, Kate asked some “really insightful questions and showed some real insight into the challenges that the families face — not just in terms of a sick child, but the wider challenges that families face in terms of daily life,” Jones says.

“Every child she engaged with, she asked how they used the hospice and what the hospice and the wider service meant to them — really getting to understand [what] the daily life is like for the families and what the hospice does to balance some of that challenge,” she adds.

During the visit, Princess Kate was taken outside to meet two families who greatly valued the help they received in their children’s last days and during their bereavement.

“She was really interested in the memorial garden and outdoor space, and was interested in the creativity and innovation we have to constantly find therapeutic creative ways to support families,” Jones tells PEOPLE, adding that while in the memorial garden and outdoor space, Kate was shown pebbles decorated with the names of each child who has died.

Related: Kate Middleton Recalls Her First-Ever Royal Speech at Children's Hospice Opening

Candice Jones and Anton Griffiths are from Llanelli — about 55 miles west of the hospice — and lost their daughter Winnie, who had Alexander’s Disease, in July 2023.

“She gave such a calm vibe,” Candice tells PEOPLE of first meeting the princess.

While the couple spent only a day at the hospice with Winnie, they have visited Tŷ Hafan many times since Winnie’s death because of the ongoing support the organization gives to them and their two sons — and they told Kate that their sons didn’t want to leave the hospice.

“It is a special place,” Candice Jones says. “As I come up over the drive, I feel as if I am closer to her,” she adds of Winnie, her voice cracking. “It is all about you and your family here, and [it] is so calm.”

“You think of a hospice being doom and gloom and sad, but if you come here, everything is so happy and uplifting,” she continues. “It is like Heaven on earth with little angels.”

Of Kate, she adds, “You’d never say she was the Princess of Wales. She was so calm and relaxed and welcoming. She wanted to know about us rather than us wanting to know about her.”

Griffiths adds of the royal that “She has an air about her — she just makes you feel relaxed like you are talking to a friend.”

Having the future queen as the charity’s new patron will help raise awareness, Griffiths says: “People don’t have an understanding of it here, but with the princess drawing attention to it, it will help people understand what it does,” he says.

Emily and James Taylor’s daughter Violet — who had a rare genetic disorder, TBCK Syndrome — died at 11 months old in August 2023. Of meeting Kate on Jan. 30, Emily says, “She was really down to earth and lovely.”

“She knew about Tŷ Hafan and was aware of the sort of decisions we had to make,” she adds. “We talked about Violet, but everything [was] about what Tŷ Hafan does. She addressed the fact we had lost our little girl — she said, ‘Sorry for your loss.’ Even that is nice. We have to talk about our daughter, we want to talk about her. And she wasn’t uncomfortable bringing that up.”

“She wanted the focus to be on us,” adds Emily, who is from near Caerphilly.

James adds of Kate, “She was marvelous. She had a presence about her, but she was a lot more down to earth and personable than I expected. I thought it would be about bowing and ‘Yes Ma’am’ and ‘Your Highness,’ but it was like talking to a lovely, intelligent person.”

“Awareness is so important, and she can bring the knowledge of this place and how fantastic it is,” he continues. “If you’re in the unfortunate circumstance and your child needs respite care or end of life care, to know there is a place that is so peaceful and will provide you with all the support you need is invaluable.”

“There will be parents who don’t think of this place as somewhere to bring their kids for end of life — and they’ve missed out,” James adds. “What she can bring is knowledge of the place and an understanding of what this place could give you if you’re ever in that horrible circumstance.”

Irfon Rees, the chief executive of Tŷ Hafan, tells PEOPLE it is a “real privilege” to have Kate as patron: “Her natural empathy and kindness she brings is a perfect fit for what we do here,” Rees says. “The profile that she will naturally bring — she emphasized her genuine commitment to support us, and that will help us go from strength to strength.”

Kate “put smiles on everybody’s faces here. But the reach will be beyond that too,” he adds.

Smiling as he recalls how she interacted with the children, he tells PEOPLE, “She responded in the way you’d expect her to do, which was to go along with it and engage with what they were doing. A boy led the way down one of our wings, impromptu, and she followed at his behest.”

“And seeing the way she engaged with him — that was poignant,” Rees says, adding that Kate spent “quality time to console and to understand their experience and really understand how Tŷ Hafan has supported through the deaths of their children, but also continued to support them.”

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Since opening in 1999, Tŷ Hafan — which means “Haven House” in Welsh — helps children with life-shortening conditions and their families lead fulfilling lives and supports bereaved families through their children’s lives, deaths and beyond. The hospice is located in Sully, South Wales, and was built with the support of the Princess of Wales’ husband Prince William’s late mother Princess Diana. Princess Diana was asked to be patron of Tŷ Hafan in 1995, but died on Aug. 31, 1997, before the construction of the hospice was complete.

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