The Duchess of Edinburgh met mothers and newborns in Kathmandu (Image: PA)
The focused on her key causes in Kathmandu today, with engagements highlighting maternal care, supporting victims of sexual violence and championing women’s rights.
Her first stop was Bhaktapur Hospital’s maternity wing, where visited mothers and their newborns, and told one new mother: “I want to hold them all.”
Sophie was greeted at the hospital by Dr Sumitra Gautum, Bagmati Province’s Health Secretary, and then taken on a tour of the maternity, post-op and labour wards by Roshani Shrestha, the hospital’s “nurse in charge”.
The duchess heard how the maternity wing, which receives aid from the FCDO, runs a programme that provides food and clothing for mothers and newborns and a 2000 rupee payment, encouraging mothers at risk in rural communities to come into the hospital for delivery rather than give birth at home.
Bhaktapur Hospital is one of the oldest public hospitals in Nepal and serves a catchment area of more than 400,000 people.
It offers a wide range of services, including maternity, paediatric, emergency, surgical, pathology, laboratories, radiology, pharmacy and social services and has one of the largest emergency departments in Nepal.
“It’s all so quiet in here,” Sophie said, in a ward of mothers and babies, some of which were just one day old.
Going from bed to bed, and speaking to the mothers, Sophie also asked about the support new parents receive with breastfeeding, saying “it’s not always straightforward, it can take come time for the milk to come.”
The duchess also heard how the hospital provides a “one-stop crisis management centre” for survivors of gender-based violence, rape and sexual assault, treating victims and offering them safe houses after they’re discharged.
Before leaving, Sophie signed a visitor’s book, and souvenir booklet commemorating 125 years of Bhaktapur Hospital’s services. Next, the duchess visited Maiti Nepal, which is dedicated to supporting survivors of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and gender-based violence.
She was presented with a blue scarf on arrival before viewing a photographic exhibition of the King’s visit to the centre in 1998 when he was the Prince of Wales.
“Is this on the same site?” Sophie asked Ms Anuradha Koirala, the founder of the refuge, who gave the duchess a guided tour of the site.
Chatting as they looked at the pictures, Sophie said: “It’s so lovely, Do you know how many people have you helped over the years?”
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Sophie told one mother: “I want to hold them all” (Image: PA)
Pausing for a moment, she replied: “Thousands.” “That’s incredible,” Sophie said, as she affectionately touched her arm.
Ms Koirala founded Maiti Nepal, starting with just two rooms to provide refuge to women and girls with nowhere else to turn. Over the past three decades, her determined leadership has expanded Maiti Nepal into a large network of support, including one
Prevention Home, 16 Transit Homes, two Women Rehabilitation Homes, one Child Protection Home, two Hospice Centres, and a formal school, Teresa Academy.
Every day, the shelter supports over 1,000 women and children, offering them safety, education and the chance of a brighter future.
Sophie then spent an hour touring the facilities and was shown classrooms, playrooms, a creche and bedrooms.
“It is very quiet,” she said as she walked through the buildings.
Told that the pupils are given peanut butter and banana as a snack, Sophie gasped and said: “That’s what I used to eat as a child!”
Shown a room tightly packed with three bunk beds and two single beds, the duchess asked how many children share a bunk.
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Sophie was shown photographs of King Charles’s last visit to Nepal (Image: PA)
“Two,” Ms Koirala replied and explained that the youngsters are responsible for changing their sheets and turning their mattresses.
Sophie then went into a creche and was told that one of the young girls was found in a jungle and three were found on the street before arriving at Maiti Nepal.
Meeting a dozen women who live at the shelter, the duchess was told: “They have got no one they have got nowhere to go.”
Pampha Adhakari and Pushpa Thapa told her that they met the King on his visit 26 years ago, Sophie told them: “He’s still the same.”
The Duchess then met survivors who were embroidering tablecloths and cushions and hand-decorating bags, jewellery, and placemats.
Anita Shrestha presented Sophie with an embroidered cushion to give to the King alongside a picture of them together.
The woman met Charles during his visit when she was aged just nine or 10.
“He will love this,” Sophie told her. “He will be very happy to get this. I shall make sure he gets this.”
She added: “Did you make this? It is very beautiful. How long did it take?”
Anita told her it took her three months to complete.
The Duchess was also gifted two placemats and coasters hand embroidered with the UK and Nepal flags, one for her and one for the King.
After His Majesty’s visit to Maiti Nepal in 1998, he sold a painting and donated £67,275 in profits to the shelter.
Before she left she was shown the Mother Teresa School, where she observed a music class and sat outside to watch a dance performance.
The duchess then visited Dwarika’s Hotel, where she was welcomed by the owners with a flower garland, and shown some of the hotel’s famous wood carvings.
Over a private lunch, Sophie met prominent Nepali women and change-makers who represent excluded communities and promote women’s and girls’ rights.
Guests included Bharati Silwal Giri, a longstanding feminist with over 20 years of experience in gender mainstreaming, governance, migration, climate change, and ending gender-based violence, Dia Yonzon, a writer and researcher based in Kathmandu, Dr. Bimala Rai Paudyal, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former member of Nepal’s National Assembly, Ms Mohna Ansari, a leading human rights activist and one of the few female attorneys from the Muslim community and Renu Sijapati, the general secretary of the feminist Dalit Organisation.