Kate Middleton Channels Diana with Charity Selections
Jan. 5, 2011— -- Kate Middleton is drawing further comparisons to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana of Wales after she chose an array of charitable organizations to donate her time and draw attention to this week.
Middleton, who will turn 30 on Monday, has carefully selected a group of children's hospices, along with an art therapy and addiction charity, and a world-famous art gallery to receive her sought-after attention. The Duchess of Cambridge reportedly personally sifted through "a few hundred" potential charities before making her selection of which honorary positions to accept.
For her 30th, the woman who got what girls across the world dream of last year with her lavish royal wedding, has even taken her charity one step further and reportedly asked that all gifts be made in the form of donations to the charities she is now involved with.
"She did her own research and chose these after approaches or because they reflected the areas she was already aware of, especially in the arts and outdoor activities," a palace source told People magazine.
Middleton reportedly sees addiction as the source of a number of the social issues she is concerned with, so she decided to throw her support behind the U.K.'s Patron of Action on Addiction, which aims to take a "dynamic and integrated approach to improving our understanding of addiction and our responses to it."
"It is a great honor for the charity that Her Royal Highness has chosen to become our patron," Chief Executive Nick Barton said. "We are thrilled that the Duchess will be supporting us in our mission to free people from addiction and its effects."
Middleton also chose to become the Royal Patron of East Anglia's Children's Hospices, which aids children with life-threatening diseases. She chose the charity not just because it aids those in need in the city of Cambridge, but because she was moved by the issue that motivates the charity, which is a leader in palliative care.
Her love of the arts led Middleton to become a Royal Patron of a charity called The Art Room, which provides art therapy to children from five to 16, and to also become a Patron of London's National Portrait Gallery, which houses art of historically famous Brits.
The Duchess will also be volunteering in the Scout Association. A former Brownie herself, along with her sister Pippa, Middleton can look forward to working with the "Beaver Scout Colonies." She reportedly was interested in working with the charity because of her love of the outdoors and because it will allow her to work in the vicinity of her and The Duke's home in north Wales.
Over the next several months the Duchess will undertake both private and public visits across the United Kingdom to meet with these organizations.
