The Duchess of Cambridge looked glam tonight in a white Barbara Casasola dress as she arrived at a charity dinner at Spring restaurant in London.
Kate, 37, is attending the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week, hosted by Action on Addiction and chef Skye Gyngell.
She wore the off the shoulder dress and added a silver clutch and silver sparkly shoes, with her hair down in loose curls.
The Duchess has worn the long sleeved gown, priced at £1,580, before in 2016, when she presented the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize.
She also added a touch of sparkle to her outfit with a pair of Jimmy Choo glittering silver shoes, which cost £525, while her blue topaz and diamond hoops were from Kiki McDonough and cost £3,400.
The royal has been snapped in the glittering silver shoes before too, and was last spotted in the shimmering pumps as she attended the BAFTA awards in February of this year.
As a patron of Action on Addiction, since 2012, she also delivered a speech tonight to celebrate the work of the charity.
Action on Addiction is the only UK addictions charity that works across all the areas of research, treatment, family support and professional education.
The Duchess of Cambridge looked glam tonight in a white Barbara Casasola dress as she arrived at a charity dinner at Spring restaurant in London
Kate, 37, was attending the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week, hosted by Action on Addiction and chef Skye Gyngell
Before the dinner Kate will meet Action on Addiction clients who are working as apprentices in the kitchen, and will be working with Spring Restaurant’s head chef and owner Skye Gyngell to create the evening’s meal
Kate delivered a speech tonight where she said: ‘There was never a more important time for Action on Addiction to succeed. And I, for one, could not be more delighted to support such a special organisation.’
Leaning over a worktop of plates waiting to be filled for the evening, Kate said it must be ‘so rewarding’ for them to now be giving back to help others recover. Pictured the Duchess of Cambridge meeting former clients of Action on Addiction Jay Otty (left) and Melanie Bennett (second right)
In a speech tonight she spoke of the effect of trauma in childhood on the scourge of addiction. The Duchess said the root causes of drug and alcohol addiction could often be traced back to the very earliest years, as she called for help to break the inter-generational cycle.
‘Sadly, for many who are suffering with addiction, they just don’t receive the help they need early enough,’ she told guests at the gala dinner.
Guests included Ronnie and Sally Wood, Bella Freud and film executive Eric Fellner, with a menu of a salad starter – radishes, carrots, broad beans, stracciatella and verbena oil – a main course of River Test trout, and a dessert of lemon cake with elderflower cream and gooseberries cooked under the eye of chef Skye Gyngell with help from former Action of Addiction clients.
The Duchess spent time in the restaurant’s kitchen pass speaking to Jay Otty, who has been clean and sober for nine years and now works front of house at The Brink, a dry bar in Liverpool, and Melanie Bennett, who describes her treatment at Action on Addiction’s Self-Help Addiction Recovery Programme (SHARP) in Liverpool as life-saving.
Leaning over a worktop of plates waiting to be filled for the evening, she said it must be ‘so rewarding’ for them to now be giving back to help others recover.
In a pre-dinner speech, the Duchess said: ‘Action on Addiction was one of my very first patronages, and as such, it is very close to my heart.
Duchess of Cambridge attends the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week at Phillips Gallery
Duchess of Cambridge speaks during the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week at Phillips Gallery – she is Patron of Action on Addiction
As a patron of Action on Addiction, since 2012, Kate will also deliver a speech tonight to to celebrate the work of the charity
The Duchess of Cambridge shields from the rain as she arrives for the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week, hosted by Action on Addiction
‘I’m hugely passionate about the support it provides, especially for parents, children and families who suffer from, or through, addiction. And in some ways, it was the catalyst for my interest in early childhood development.
‘For the last few years, I’ve been focussing on the importance of prevention: how can we all really support the earliest years of life, build foundations, and help avoid adversity later on in life.
‘Having met so many people who’ve suffered from addiction, I have seen over and over again that, sadly, the root causes can so often be traced right back to the very earliest years of someone’s life.
‘Trauma experienced in early childhood, in some cases, as a result of separation, abandonment, abuse, or even emotional neglect, can have a lasting effect.
‘What we experience during our earliest years, even while we’re still in the womb, shapes the developing brain.
‘It is therefore vital that we support everyone who cares for children in those formative years, especially if we want to help with the inter-generational cycle of addiction.
The Duchess of Cambridge walks slowly over the cobbles in her heels as she arrives for the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week
The Duchess has worn the long sleeved gown, priced at £1,580, before in 2016, when she presented the Art Fund Museum of the Year prize.
The Duchess of Cambridge with chef Skye Gyngell at Spring Restaurant, London as she arrived for Action on Addiction gala dinner
‘Sadly, for many who are suffering with addiction, they just don’t receive the help they need early enough. They have already reached crisis point before the support they need.
‘What’s remarkable about Action on Addiction is that it goes beyond helping those who are suffering on the courageous journey into recovery – but it also lends direct support to the children and families affected by addiction – for as long as it takes.
‘This evening’s dinner not only marks ‘Addiction Awareness Week’, but it also provides an opportunity for us to remember the vital work being done to help all those affected by addiction feel able to access help, hope and freedom from their addiction.
‘There was never a more important time for Action on Addiction to succeed. And I, for one, could not be more delighted to support such a special organisation.’
It was the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week, hosted by chef Skye Gyngell and Action on Addiction, a British charity working in research, treatment, family support and professional education.
A spokesman said Action on Addiction ‘builds communities of recovery for individuals and families by developing the best quality and most effective residential and community-based addiction treatment services in the UK and promoting self-help, peer-to-peer support, and community cohesion’.
The Duchess, who became patron of the charity in 2012, chatted to some of the staff who helped to create the evening menu at the event
The Duchess of Cambridge listen to other speakers during the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week
Kate Middleton gets up to make a speech at the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week on Wednesday night
Duchess of Cambridge speaks to Graham Beech, Chief Executive of Action on Addiction at the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addiction Awareness Week
The Duchess has previously spoken of how her work with addicts helped her realise the significance of mental health as central to many issues.
Addiction Awareness Week, which falls this week, aims to provide a platform to discuss the many elements of addiction, to engage with people and families affected, and to raise public awareness.
Kate’s experience with Action on Addiction has helped lay the groundwork for her work and understanding on mental health, and is currently helping inform her work in developing a major project around support for children in their earliest years.
Experiences in these earliest moments, before the age of five, are proven to have significant impact on adult lives, including resilience and the ability to cope with adversity.
She recently spoke about this when showcasing her garden at the Chelsea Flower Show: ‘There’s an amazing fact that I learned recently that 90 per cent of our adult brains are developed before the age of five and what a child experiences in these really early years directly affects how their brain develops,’ she said.
‘That’s why I think it’s so important that all of us, whether we are parents or carers or family members, really engage in quality time with our children and babies from a really young age.’
Ronnie Wood and his wife Sally wore matching outfits as they arrived at the first annual gala dinner in recognition of Addition Awareness Week
Dougray Scott and wife Claire Forlani Action on Addiction Gala Dinner, Somerset House which the Duchess of Cambridge attended
Action on Addiction builds communities of recovery for individuals and families by developing the best quality and most effective residential and community-based addiction treatment services in the UK and promoting self-help, peer-to-peer support, and community cohesion.
The charity also campaigns to raise the standard of professional education across the addictions field, funds groundbreaking research into different facets of addiction, increases access to treatment for all those who need it, and strives to remove the stigma relating to addiction and associated issues.
In February 2018 the Duchess of Cambridge opened a new addiction treatment centre for the charity in Essex.
Celebrities, including Scottish actor Dougray Scott and his wife Claire Forlani were in attendance at the gala dinner at Somerset House.
Rockstar Ronnie Wood saluted the crowd as he arrived at the event hand-in-hand with his wife Sally Humphreys.
The Rolling Stone donned a metallic floral jacket for the occasion, with a pink lining that matched Sally’s pink and red floral gown.