Kate Middleton isn’t one to shy away from discussing the realities of being a mother to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

During a visit to the Ely and Caerau Children’s Centre in Cardiff, Wales on Wednesday, the royal – who wore a personalised necklace in tribute to her children – spoke openly about her experience as a first-time mum living in Anglesey following her royal wedding to Prince William in 2011.

‘If only I had had a centre like this,’ she told the mothers at the centre before recalling how she felt after becoming a mum to George in 2013.

‘It was the first year and I’d just had George – William was still working with Search and Rescue and we came up here and I had a tiny tiny baby in the middle of Anglesey it was so isolated, so cut off.

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‘I didn’t have any family around and he was doing night shifts.’

The visit gave Kate the chance to reacquaint herself with Wales, which was her home for three years before the trio moved to Norwich and welcomed Princess Charlotte in 2015.

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‘We will be taking a trip down to Anglesey at some point,’ she said of her family’s holiday plans.

During a discussion with a mum named Rhi, who uses the centre with her 11-month-old daughter, the royal said: ‘So many families now are so spread out. It’s much harder to rely on other generations for support.’

Rhi added: ‘You can come here and tell people, “I haven’t slept”.’

‘And everyone else is like, “I haven’t either!”’ laughed Kate.

In 2017, Kate also spoke of how lonely she felt as a new mum during a meeting at the Global Academy.

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'It is lonely at times and you do feel quite isolated, but actually so many other mothers are going through exactly what you are going through,' she told the women at the event, who co-founded an app called Mush that helps connect mothers.

'It is being brave enough, like you obviously were, to reach out to those around you,' she stated.

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The week before the meeting, the royal spoke at the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and said that becoming a mother was a ‘rewarding and wonderful experience’.

‘However, at times it has also been a huge challenge—even for me who has support at home that most mothers do not,’ she explained.

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'Nothing can really prepare you for you the sheer overwhelming experience of what it means to become a mother. It is full of complex emotions of joy, exhaustion, love, and worry, all mixed together. Your fundamental identity changes overnight. You go from thinking of yourself as primarily an individual, to suddenly being a mother, first and foremost.

'And yet there is no rule book, no right or wrong—you just have to make it up and do the very best you can to care for your family. For many mothers, myself included, this can, at times lead to lack of confidence and feelings of ignorance.'

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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.