Prince Harry talks about lockdown baking as he surprises ill children on video call
Prince Harry surprised seriously ill children on a video call ahead of the next WellChild awards night.
Harry, 36, chatted to previous winners of the WellChild awards about baking and singing during lockdown, and asked them who they would nominate for the accolade.
The Duke of Sussex is a patron of WellChild and has frequently appeared at the charity’s awards night.
On the call with Harry were previous Inspirational Child/Young Person award winners: Maddison Sherwood, aged 12, from Loughborough, Katie Ward, aged 13 from Colchester, Evie Toombes, aged 19 from Skegness, and Armaan (Marni) Ahmed, aged 11, from Leeds.
Harry asked Marni how the coronavirus lockdown had been for him, saying: “Presumably you’ve been doing more baking?”
Replying to the duke’s question about the “biggest or most delicious thing” he had made, Marni said: “Oreo pops.”
Marni also said of his time at home: “It’s been different, I’ve had more time on my hands, I got to do lots of different things at home and spend more time with my family.”
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He also caught up with how Katie’s singing lessons are going, suggesting she could sing at the next awards.
She told him: “I’m working really hard on my singing, and I can just about sing a song from Mamma Mia, and I’m working on a song from another musical I like.”
Harry said he wouldn’t put her on the spot, but that he couldn’t wait to hear her sing.
The prince encouraged the children on the call to think about who they would nominate for an award this year. The charity is seeking nominations before the deadline of 31 December.
They also reflected on the previous awards nights, and what they enjoyed, with Evie telling the duke her favourite thing was “how positive the evening was and how it was a celebration of everything we can do and I think all of us need to focus on that”.
She added: “I have definitely carried that through and continue to carry it through.”
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Catherine Davies, WellChild’s family engagement lead, was also on the call and she explained some of the additional challenges the charity faced during the year.
She said: “As a charity we could see quickly what parents needed to help them through this crisis.
“We put together a direct response service to help people access food deliveries, medication supplies, but, most importantly, to access PPE so they could keep the carers coming into their homes to help them with their children’s 24/7 care needs.
“As challenging as that was to be a part of, it was incredibly rewarding to be able to step into this almost front-line role for our parents and give them that direct support that they needed day after day to get them through this crisis and this year.”
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Harry said the WellChild awards were a highlight of his year, and added: “The children and young people of WellChild are at the very heart of this charity because you guys just know who you are and don’t pretend to be anybody else and because of that you inspire every single nurse, every single care giver, every single mum, every single dad, every single sibling.
“And outside of the WellChild community as well, you are inspiring people every single day.”
Nominations for awards are open until the end of the year.
