The Princess of Wales on Thursday visited family-run textile manufacturers in Suffolk as part of a programme to showcase the skills and heritage of Britain’s creative industries, while her brother-in-law, the Duke of Sussex, wrapped up a four-day visit to the UK that included a meeting with King Charles.
At Sudbury Silk Mills, the Princess met designers and mill operatives, reviewed archival samples and observed jacquard looms in operation at the production site, which has a history of weaving stretching back more than three centuries. She was due later to visit Marina Mill in Cuxton, Kent, a family business established in 1967 that specialises in hand-designed and screen-printed furnishing fabrics and where she planned to take part in a screen-printing demonstration.
The engagement was billed as a celebration of the ‘‘skill, creativity and craftsmanship’’ of the sector. At Sudbury Silk Mills, which supplies high-end houses and employs more than 100 people across companies including Stephen Walters, David Walters and Humphries Weaving, the Princess spoke with the design team about hand-drawing techniques and the mills’ archive, and inspected quality-control processes on the weaving floor.
Marina Mill’s production includes free-hand sketch work by the design director and traditional screen-printing processes. The Princess’s planned participation involved pushing coloured dyes through an engraved silk screen with a squeegee to print a design, an activity that organisers said reflected the mill’s artisan approach.
Members of the royal household noted a family connection to the British textile trade: the Princess’s paternal ancestors were associated with William Lupton & Co, a Leeds-based woollen manufacturer and merchant. The Princess has previously visited textile and fabric producers, including earlier trips to factories in Wales, Leeds and Lancaster in 2023 and 2024.
The visits come amid a busy week of engagements for the wider royal family. The Duke of Sussex, on a rare return to Britain, met King Charles at Clarence House on Wednesday in what was reported as their first face-to-face meeting in 19 months. The duke told reporters at an Invictus Games reception in the City of London that the King was "doing well," and later described the meeting simply: "Yes he's great, thank you."
During his four-day trip, the duke carried out several charity-focused visits. He attended the WellChild Awards in London, visited a community recording studio in Nottingham where he announced a £1.1 million personal donation to BBC Children in Need, and toured the Centre for Blast Injury Studies in White City, meeting researchers and veterans. His office said his foundation has pledged $500,000 to projects supporting injured children from Gaza and Ukraine, including work on evacuations and prosthetics.
The Prince of Wales, meanwhile, carried out separate engagements in London and Berkshire. On Wednesday he visited Spiral Skills, a youth organisation in Lambeth that received funding from his homelessness initiative Homewards to open a new hub, where he visited a music studio and spoke about the importance of music education for his children. On Monday he and the Princess of Wales attended an event marking the third anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s death at the national federation of the Women’s Institute in Sunningdale, where he paid tribute to his grandmother and discussed family memories.
Palace scheduling this week has seen members of the family undertake a mix of public and private engagements. Organisers said the duke left for the Invictus reception after seeing the King, and was later photographed at charity events and meetings with corporate sponsors. Traffic and transport disruptions in central London were reported to have affected arrival times at some events.
Royal aides described the textile visits as part of ongoing efforts to spotlight British manufacturing, design and traditional crafts. The Princess’s engagement with mill workers and designers was framed as supporting small, family-run businesses and preserving techniques used in high-end furnishing and fashion supply chains. Observers say such visits form part of the royals’ wider work promoting employment, apprenticeships and cultural heritage in the creative sector.
Thursday’s activities left the royal family with a schedule that combined public-facing advocacy for charities and industry with personal meetings and commemorations, underscoring the continuing role of working visits in their public duties.