Famous faces follow Kate's lead and share childhood photos to back early-years campaign
Famous faces have taken a trip down memory lane by sharing childhood photographs to help back a royal early-years campaign.
It is part of the Shaping Us campaign led by the Princess of Wales, to raise awareness of the vital role our early years play in shaping the rest of our lives.
Kate sent a call out for people to talk about their early childhoods and “how they’ve shaped your lives”.
They could also share a photograph that may “help with those conversations and to share some smiles and memories too”, she added.
Current and former England football captains including Harry Kane, Leah Williamson and David Beckham, plus his pop-star-turned-fashion-designer wife Victoria Beckham, along with music stars and presenters, released a photograph of themselves when they were under five.
Tottenham star Kane, 29, who is sporting a striking pair of black and white striped shorts in his picture, wrote: “I’m only 5 in this pic, but look at the right foot ready to go!"
Meanwhile, England women’s captain Williamson, who led the Lionesses to glory at last summer’s European Championships, shared a photograph of herself aged three and dressed in a fairy costume.
Broadcaster Fearne Cotton, 41, is about four in her throwback photograph, wearing denim dungarees. She wrote: “Possibly the age I started to cultivate my own style and love of clothes and definitely the age I started to get super passionate about art and creativity.”
Apart from his musical talents, rapper Professor Green, 39, is also known for his campaigning on mental health and his openness about his own personal struggles. The Read All About It hitmaker, originally from Hackney, east London, chose an image of himself as a toddler riding a bicycle.
David Beckham, 47, is in full football kit at four years old and practising free kicks in a garden in his favourite childhood photograph.
His wife Victoria, 48, formerly Posh Spice in the Spice Girls, is wearing a blue and white knitted poncho in her photograph.
Her hair was pulled up into a bun on top of her head and she is crouched down beside a doll in a toy pram.
She wrote: “I was three years old in this picture and already experimenting with fashion!”
Former Saturdays singer Rochelle Humes is four in her photograph and smiling straight at the camera in a denim outfit.
She joked: “I hear double denim is back...ahead of the curve…” and added “our early childhood shapes the rest of our lives.”
Chef Jamie Oliver, 47, who has become a household favourite after a series of TV shows and a campaign to improve school dinners, is beaming in his childhood photograph.
He wrote: “I was 5 years old here. Check out how happy I look in my brown cords, trackie top and strap-on roller skates! I feel so lucky I had a great childhood, growing up in my mum and dad’s pub.
“Not only did it give me a thirst for food knowledge, and a passion for pursuing that as a career, it taught me about people and community.”
Shaping Us is a long-term campaign from The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which was founded by the Princess in 2021.
The aim is for it to increase public understanding of the importance of the first five years of a child’s life.
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