Kate Middleton Wore Pink to Keep Her Promise to a 5-YO With Cancer | “Want to Give You a Big Squeezy Cuddle”

Six-year-old Mila Sneddon, who's been undergoing cancer treatment, first came in touch with the Duchess of Cambridge in 2020 when her photograph was submitted for Kate’s lockdown photography project, Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation.

The picture was taken during the first lockdown in which little Mila and her father are seen separated by a window in their Falkirk, Scotland house. Mila can be seen kissing her kitchen window in the picture as her father smiles at his little girl from outside. Since Scott, Mila's father, had to work and couldn't risk bringing COVID into the family home given Mila's condition, he was forced to live apart from Mila and her mother.

Kate Middleton met Mila via video call in August 2020. They both exchanged a sweet conversation when the Duchess made a promise to wear pink, Mila's favorite color if they ever met in person. "I have to make sure I go and try to find myself a pink dress," Kate said, per PEOPLE. "Hopefully, when one day, hopefully, Mila, we'll get to meet, and then I'll remember to wear my pink dress for you."
 
"Yay!" Mila exclaimed on the phone, thrilled at the idea of meeting a princess.

Well, The Duchess of Cambridge is not one to flake on somebody, especially not a child. The royal mum-of-three kept her sweet promise and she met Mila in May 2021. Kate invited Mila and her mother, Lynda to the Queen’s official home in Edinburgh to keep the word she had given to the five-year-old, per Cosmopolitan.

Though she is a fashion symbol herself for many people throughout the world, for this particularly special meeting, she let a child choose the colors of her outfit.

Mila was thrilled when Kate arrived wearing a midi, belted shirt dress from Me + Em in a stunning shade of pink. The five-year-old also showed up dressed in full blush pink attire from top to bottom.

When Kate and Mila met, the Duchess said: "Hi Mila, look at you! I want to give you a big squeezy cuddle. It’s so nice to meet you in person." She then admired the little girl's dress before Mila spun, did a handstand, and then performed a cartwheel. Mila said to iTV that she and Kate became "best friends" after their meeting. Indeed so because earlier this year, when Mila wished Kate on her 40th birthday, she was the only person to receive a response from the Duchess herself.

When Mila was featured on the Hold Still project, her family was going through a very difficult time. Mila was just four months into her chemotherapy treatment at the time. She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia - a type of cancer that affects white blood cells and requires immediate treatment because it progresses quickly and aggressively in November 2019, per iTV.

Now, two years after the meeting, she recently rang the bell at the Team Jack Cancer Centre in April 2022, to indicate she was cancer-free. To commemorate the occasion, Kate Middleton wrote the young child a handwritten letter. Mila's mother, Lynda, expressed her gratitude on Twitter calling it "a beautiful keepsake for Mila to look back on for many years to come (the content of which will not be disclosed) such a lovely gesture! Thank you Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge."

References:

https://people.com/royals/kate-middleton-keeps-promise-wear-pink-meet-young-cancer-patient-mila/

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-03-31/mila-sneddon-declared-cancer-free-after-battle-with-leukaemia

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a36568326/kate-middleton-pink-dress-promise-cancer-patient/

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Jane Barlow