Kate Middleton Celebrates Valentine’s Day with Royal Charity Tour
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Paul Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images(LONDON) — With her prince nearly 8,000 miles away on a six-week Royal Air Force deployment in the Falkland Islands, Kate Middleton kept busy on Valentine’s Day. The Duchess of Cambridge toured charities in Liverpool, where crowds of admirers serenaded her with flowers and gifts.
An 8-year-old, Jaqson Johnston-Lynch, whose mother works at the addiction charity Middleton visited, presented the 29-year-old with a bouquet of red roses, a Valentine’s Day card and a special cupcake decorated with “Jaqson loves Kate” in a heart.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s first stop was the Brink, an alcohol-free bar for recovering addicts, which is affiliated with the U.K.’s Action on Addiction, a charity where she is now a patron.
In January, Middleton announced that she would be donating her time and support to an array of charitable organizations, including the addiction charity, a group of children’s hospices, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Scout Association, the British equivalent of the Girl Scouts, among others.
At the Brink, Middleton mingled with the staff and sipped on a non-alcoholic smoothie.
The royal also paid a visit to the Alder Hey Children’s hospital, which she visited with husband William last February, and greeted young girls outside the entrance.
Tuesday’s visit to the Action on Addiction and the Alder Hey Children’s hospital is the second official engagement Middleton has attended on her own. Last week she toured a new exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in London, where she is a patron. Middleton is reported to have personally sifted through “a few hundred” potential charities before selecting her honorary positions, and is committed to her philanthropic causes.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio