A former inmate has revealed one thing stunned her about Kate Middleton when they met behind bars.
Francesca Fattore, 44, encountered the Princess of Wales at HMP Send in Surrey and was struck by her approachability after completing a 12-week rehabilitation program in 2020.
She told Reach PLC: “Do you know what? The one thing that surprised me about Kate was how she didn’t judge – she just didn’t care that I was a prisoner.”
Francesca went on to describe the royal encounter, saying: “The way she was with me, it was just like I was a normal person. You have so many people out there judging prisoners and ex-prisoners yet she supports rehabilitation there and I was just shocked that someone like her sat next to me and saw me as equal.”
Francesca, who grew up in a caring family in Reading, found her life veering off course as a teenager due to drugs. Her addiction to heroin and crack led her down the path of selling narcotics.
Eventually, her actions resulted in imprisonment for drug-related crimes, where she shared quarters with some of the UK’s most notorious female convicts in HMP Bronzefield, reports the Express.
However, it was Kate’s visit to HMP Send that left a lasting impression on her. She said: “I think the main thing that will stay with me… I said to her I was really nervous and I was shaking, literally.
“But she just sat down next to me and I said ‘I am so nervous’ and she said ‘don’t be silly it is fine’. She just made me feel so relaxed then as well.
“I said to her that prison was the best thing that happened to me and she said ‘why do all prisoners say that to me’. She was really shocked that going to prison was the best thing that happened to me.”
Francesca, who has turned her life around and become a content creator running UkExFemalePrisoner – a platform dedicated to supporting former female offenders – still credits her conversation with Kate as pivotal in inspiring her journey.
She concluded: “If I could give a message to her, it would be to say she is amazing. I would love to tell her again that I feel so blessed to have met her and it is one of the biggest things that has ever happened to me.
“She is an inspiration to so many women – she is amazing, genuine and I think she is an absolutely amazing woman.”
Get our daily royal round-up direct to your inbox
