Kate Middleton Quietly Met with Love Actually Director Richard Curtis for This Special Reason

Kate Middleton Quietly Met with Love Actually Director Richard Curtis for This Special Reason

Kate Middleton welcomed a special filmmaker to the palace this week as she continued her mental health networking.

The royal mom, 37, held a meeting with Love Actually director Richard Curtis, leading to speculation that they are planning to set up an alliance under the Royal Foundation headed by Kate and husband Prince William.

The notion of a new project was being played down by their office, but they certainly discussed their joint interest in mental wellbeing and supporting families in need, a royal source says.

Kate Middleton and Richard Curtis | Chris Jackson/Getty; Sam Aronov/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty
Kate Middleton and Richard Curtis | Chris Jackson/Getty; Sam Aronov/Pacific Press/LightRocket/Getty

Princess Kate has made mental health a central plank of her public work and Curtis, who also wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral, has previously talked about the difficulties for relatives of those who lose someone to suicide. He was speaking after his sister died.

For more on how Kate is managing her dual roles of motherhood and future Queen, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE on newsstands on Friday.

Addressing a public health conference in 2017, the director and writer said, “I was so privileged and we had so much money and so much access and still couldn’t do anything. I can’t believe what it must be like for someone whose relatives aren’t in that situation and they have nothing.”

Kate Middleton at her Back to Nature garden on September 10, 2019.
Kate Middleton at her Back to Nature garden on September 10, 2019.

The meeting – on Wednesday – came a day after Kate opened the permanent version of her Back to Nature garden to cultivate a love of the outdoors in children. “I was passionate about creating a garden that inspired children and adults alike to get back to nature,” she said in a speech, “and reap the positive mental and physical health benefits that it can bring.”