Sent with love: Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, accepts a beautiful bouquet of flowers Pic: ©Tim Rooke/Rex Features
Kate Middleton didn’t spend Valentine’s Day with her husband Prince William but she wasn’t short of plans for the big day, carrying out two very worthwhile solo royal engagements.
The Duchess of Cambridge’s first visit of the day was to The Brink, an alcohol-free bar run by the Action on Addiction charity.
The pretty 30-year-old was met with a warm welcome, being serenaded by the bar’s resident choir – the Raucous Caucus Recovery Chorus - who performed a heartfelt rendition of an American Indian song called Wings of a Dove.
Later this afternoon, Kate moved on to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where she was also greeted by cheers and waves, as she spoke to the audience, and accepted floral tributes from well-wishers.
Kate’s first stop this afternoon was at Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), which provides free "home away from home" accommodation at hospitals across the UK, helping families who have seriously ill children maintain a degree of normal family life.
The duchess, who dubbed the centre as "a fantastic place”, was introduced to families who use the centre on a long-term basis.
She even got a handmade Valentine’s card off 10-year-old Ethan Harris, which featured painted spots on red card, cut into a heart shape, with a snap of his brother Carson Hartley on the front.
Ethan’s family have used the RMHC since Carson, who will be two on Sunday, was born premature. He has complex medical needs, resulting from a heart problem.
And cute Ethan even penned a poem for the duchess, which read: "You're smiley like the sun, you're bright like a star, you're light when it's dark and I love your spark." A delighted Kate told the youngster: "Thank you, that's lovely."
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The duchess met various other families during a 20 minute walk-around, before being given a bouquet of red roses by seven-year-old Aimee Haswell, who suffers from a rare type of congenital heart disease.
Kate's trip to the hospital also included a private engagement, meeting burns patients and their families, a visit to the Oncology Unit, and a private meeting with Alder Hey bosses who showed her their plans for a £230 million rebuild of the hospital.
It’s the first Valentine’s Day the duchess has spent as a married woman, but because Prince William is on duty on the Falkland Islands, they were almost 8, 000 miles apart.
But the prince didn’t let romance go out the window, with Kate revealing she had received a card and a bouquet of flowers from her husband.
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