Catherine, Princess of Wales arrived at an official engagement in London on a school bus on Tuesday (04.02.25)

The group visited the gallery to help launch the Bobeam Tree Trail, a new initiative from The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood aimed at supporting youngsters with their social and emotional skills.

Teacher Alix Ascough, ex ecutive head of the school, also accompanied the 15 kids on the "magical" visit and praise Catherine for her "natural" rapport with the youngsters.

She told People magazine: "For the children, it was just so magical. It was an awe and wonder moment. They've been doing lots of artwork at school, so for them to be able to that within the gallery with the princess was magical. It's what memories are made of.

"She sat with the children on the coach and chatted with them.

"She was so relaxed and animated, and it just felt really natural. We'll never have another school trip like that, will we?"

At once point, Catherine played 'I Spy' with the children and was "so interested in the children and was seeing things through their eyes as well and encouraging them to talk about the pictures."

The head added: "We do a lot of work around creativity but also around children's emotional and mental health and talking about expressions and how we feel so this is all connected. This gives the children some context to explore some of those things."

Catherine sat with the children in a "cosy nook" and helped with their portraits.

Liz Smith, director of learning and engagement at the National Portrait Gallery, said: "We were absolutely delighted to be a place where the framework could be animated and brought to life.

"It was a regular school trip with a very special person on the bus. That was quite deliberate. It's planned to be for children, and it can lose that magic if you have that formal launch.

"[The children were] really excited to be with her. But I think her opportunity to get down with them, to make portraits with them, to discover those stories and be one of the adults on a school trip was such a treat...

"They all sat and drew and posted them into a magical cabinet where they disappeared. We might be revealing some of them."

And the princess - who is patron of the gallery - was "naturally nurturing and integrated with the group".

Liz added: "She was one of the school party, and there was no official presentation. It was as if she was one of the mums, one of the helpers and, as you are on a school trip, you're learning as you're walking and making sense of the environment. It was a real treat."

Catherine praised the way portraiture can help younger children learn about empathy.

According to the Telegraph, she said: "It's such a great way for children to engage and understand other people's perspectives in a creative and less intimidating way.

"They don't have the language yet, but they're finding ways to talk about emotions and feelings and understand them.

"I'm really excited to be using portraiture to explore social and emotional skills because I feel it's such an untapped potential, but also to make it accessible to lots of kids so it's not just in school but is something that's embraced by the community."