The Prince and Princess of Wales walk along the waterfront in Boston during their visit to the city last week. By Grace R. Bida

By Charlotte P. Ritz-Jack, Crimson Staff Writer

13 hours ago

Princess Catherine of Wales visited the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University on Friday as part of her tour of Boston alongside her husband, Prince William of Wales.

The visit comes as part of a partnership between the Center on the Developing Child and the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, an organization the princess launched in June 2021. Kate was greeted at Harvard by University President Lawrence S. Bacow, Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean Bridget T. Long, and Cambridge Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui.

Meanwhile, the Prince met with President Joe Biden at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

The royal couple’s Boston tour culminated in a celebration of the Earthshot Prize, an award the Prince established to encourage innovation addressing climate change.

The Harvard Center on the Developing Child conducts research and development on issues of early childhood to foster effective policy-making. The Royal Foundation aims to produce research and campaigns improving children’s early years and to support underserved children around the world.

Jack P. Shonkoff, the director of the Center on the Developing Child, said in a Friday press conference that the organization aims to serve as “a resource for trusted, credible, cutting-edge science of early childhood” to inform the princess’ work.

“The reason for the visit was, first, to have a chance to meet face to face — we had not before,” he said. “It’s clear as her center, her new center, is poised to go out more publicly, she is really interested in a partnership with us and we are very interested in a partnership with her.”

Shonkoff said he was impressed by the Princess’s work to “connect the science to the lived experiences of people.”

“I was just very taken and really inspired by how serious she is about wanting to lean into an early childhood agenda,” he said.

Shonkoff also described the royals’ visit as key for drawing public attention to the center’s work.

“For me, the real home run here is giving attention to the issue,” he said.

Tobechukwu O. Nwafor ’25, one of the many Harvard students who gathered to meet the Princess on Friday, said her presence drew new attention to the work being done at the center.

“I didn’t even know that there was a Center on the Developing Child at Harvard,” he said in an interview. “So I think that even if she could even get people to look up the center, that’s an important thing.”

Crowds gathered in Harvard Square Friday to greet the Princess. Nawfor estimated more than 500 people flanked Church Street in anticipation for her arrival.

“I think it’s a once in a life-time opportunity to see a Princess — the Princess,” he said. “It was surreal.”

—Staff writer Charlotte P. Ritz-Jack can be reached at charlotte.ritz-jack@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @Charritzjack.

Catherine, the Princess of Wales, stopped at Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child on Friday as part of a visit to the Boston area with her husband William, now Prince of Wales and second in line to the throne behind his father, King Charles III.

The couple arrived in Boston on Wednesday. They traveled to the city to award the second annual Earthshot Prize — founded by the prince and given by the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales to innovators working on climate change solutions — in a ceremony Friday night.

Presented in conjunction with the John F. Kennedy Foundation, the Earthshot Prize awards ₤1 million to five winners, each working in a unique field — nature protection and restoration, air quality improvement, ocean revival, waste reduction, and emissions control.

The prince noted during the trip that he was inspired by President Kennedy’s 1962 “moonshot” speech and subsequent space exploration efforts. Kennedy’s example was one of the key inspirations in bringing the prize to Boston, according to the prince.

“Boston was also the obvious choice because your universities, research centers, and vibrant start-up scene make you a global leader in science, innovation, and boundless ambition,” he said at a City Hall kickoff event.

Days before soft serve ice cream store Taiyaki NYC celebrates the grand opening of its Harvard location, the newest addition to the Square has already lured in students and local residents.

Taiyaki NYC, which sells its soft serve ice cream — known as creemees in parts of New England — in instagrammable fish-shaped waffle cones, found fame on social media for its unique desserts. The Harvard Square store is The Dough Club’s first location in the state, but the ice cream chain’s second store in Massachusetts.

The chain first welcomed customers in Harvard Square on Nov. 21 at its “unannounced opening,” according to store employee Winnie Tan. The ice cream store opened alongside The Dough Club, its sibling Japanese mochi doughnut store, at the former location of the clothing store Mint Julep on 6 Church St. The stores will host their grand opening on Friday.

Arleen K. Saini ’25 said Taiyaki NYC’s waffle cones are “really unique” and “very cute.”

“I could see a lot of people taking photos with it,” Saini said.

Cecilia Hermawan, a local resident who visited the new shop on Sunday with her niece, nephew, and seven-year-old daughter, said she had visited the chain’s Boston Seaport location several times and was excited to see it open in Harvard Square.

Hermawan’s daughter, Natalia, jumped in to offer her praise of Taiyaki NYC’s ice cream.

“I like how they also decorate it, and how it looks on the outside, and how it tastes on the inside,” she said.

Minh Trinh ’15, who visited Taiyaki NYC on Sunday with Nga H. Nguy ’15-’16, said the ice cream is “definitely better” than Harvard’s dining hall food.

The Harvard Crimson reports on the imminent opening of a Harvard Square outlet of a New York ice-cream chain that sells ice cream in fish-shaped waffle cones aimed specifically at the sort of discriminating customers who want to instantly post photos of themselves with their cones on Instagram.