The Princess of Wales has delivered a rare personal message to mark Earth Day, saying that nature helps people “remember where we belong”.

The 44-year-old royal dropped the statement on Instagram on Wednesday (British time).

It was accompanied by five landscape images from Kate’s Mother Nature video series, which has been shared at seasonal intervals in the past year.

“When we listen to the rhythms of Mother Nature, we remember where we belong,” Kate wrote on Wednesday’s post.

It was signed with a C, to indicate it came from the princess herself.

“Watch the seasonal Mother Nature films on YouTube,” she wrote.

Kate’s most recent Mother Nature video, Winter, was added to the social media accounts she and husband Prince William share in January, to mark her 44th birthday.

The video followed the royal – who revealed in January 2025 that she was in remission following a course of preventative chemotherapy after she was found to have cancer following abdominal surgery – on an early morning walk in Berkshire as she explained the benefits of the natural world to viewers through a voiceover.

“Even in the coldest, darkest season, winter has a way of bringing us stillness, patience and quiet consideration,” Kate says in the video.

“Where the stream slows just enough for us to see our own reflection. To discover the deepest parts of ourselves. Alongside the whispers in the pulse of every living thing.

“I find myself reflecting on how deeply grateful I am.

“For the rivers within us flow with ease, fears washed away, cleanse and purify. Come to peace with our tears and discover what it means to be alive.

“To be at one with nature; a quiet teacher and a soft voice that guides.

“In memory. Helping us to heal.”

The video was released instead of an official birthday portrait of the princess.

Wednesday’s Earth Day message came a day after the Prince and Princess of Wales joined the King and Queen joined other senior royals at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday to mark what would have been the 100th birthday of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Guests included some of Britain’s oldest citizens celebrating their 100th birthday on April 21. The King presented them with centenary cards.

Kate and William mingled and chatted with guests, and the princess shared a poignant moment with former Met Police officer Tony Gledhill. He shared a hug with Kate after telling her his wife of 67 years had recently died.

“The princess was lovely, she was fantastic,” Gledhill said afterwards.

Video of the pair’s touching encounter was shared by multiple outlets, including Woman’s Day.

The King paid a tender tribute to his late mother in a video message released this week, saying his “darling mama” will “remain forever ‌in our hearts and prayers”.

“Millions will remember her for moments of national significance. Many others ​for a fleeting personal encounter, a smile, a kind word that lifted spirits, or for that marvellous twinkle of the eye when sharing a marmalade sandwich with Paddington Bear in the final months of her life,” he said in the message recorded at Balmoral Castle.

-with AAP