royal mother-to-be Princess Beatrice She has spoken openly about her experience of dyslexia – and says that if her unborn child is ‘lucky enough’ that it can be diagnosed, she will see it as a ‘gift’.
QueenHer granddaughter, 33, whose first child is due later this year, was diagnosed with self-learning difficulties that can affect reading, writing and spelling, when she was seven years old.
But while she received support from an early age, Beatrice says many children struggle without a diagnosis.
Royal mother-to-be Princess Beatrice (pictured with husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi last week) has spoken out about her experience of dyslexia
The princess – seen last week at lunch with friends in a floral jacket with her husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi – revealed in an interview with Hi! Magazine That’s also his condition.
She described her role as stepmother to five-year-old Edo’s son Wolfie, calling him her ‘bonus son’ – but admitted it was a challenge to keep him home-schooled during the lockdown.
Beatrice, hello! The writer was talking to Giovanna Fletcher for the Back to School digital issue, now online.
The Duke and Duchess of York’s daughter said that ‘if any child, any bonus son, or future children who are on their way out are lucky enough to suffer from dyslexia, I would thank tools like the Helen Arkell dyslexia charity’ for the incredible I am deeply grateful. [that she’s patron of] To be able to tap in, to give them that extra support.’
She said: ‘My husband is also dyslexic… but I really see it as a gift.’
Beatrice said: ‘I think life is about the moments, it’s the challenges that make you. Of course, I would never want there to be any difficult situations.
The princess said that if her unborn child is ‘lucky enough’ to be diagnosed with it, she will see it as a ‘gift’. Pictured: Beatrice with husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi last week
‘But I think if we’re able to adopt some of the tools we have from the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity and other organizations, I feel very fortunate that we can have this conversation.’
Speaking about her stepson, Beatrice, who married her husband in a private ceremony in Windsor last year, said: ‘Homeschooling, it definitely wasn’t for me! Not gonna lie Sadly, I can’t blame dyslexia for this.
‘But I feel so lucky that I got the chance to work with my bonus son (Wolfi) while school is closed. It was a huge learning curve for all of us.’
Beatrice also spoke candidly about her passion for increasing understanding of dyslexia and removing any negative associations with it.
The princess, who admitted she struggled to understand why the words appeared so ‘messy’ before her diagnosis, said she hopes sharing her story will help ‘change the narrative’.
Beatrice also spoke candidly about her passion for increasing understanding of dyslexia and removing any negative associations with it. Pictured: Beatrice and Edo at the Wimbledon Championships in July
‘I was lucky enough that when I was first told I had dyslexia, no one around me ever made me feel like it was a ‘less than’ scenario. It was always about moving forward, it was always about what you could do. It’s never about what you can’t do,’ she explained.
‘It’s something that’s really, really important to me. I find it so inspiring to talk about it every day. Because if you can change just one small thought in someone’s mind, you’ve done a great job.
‘I think having dyslexia and looking back at where I am in my career path right now, as an older person, has definitely allowed me to look at things in a new way and come up with solutions .
‘I always describe it as being able to think in a circle. Yes, my spelling is sinister, and I wish I could do something about it. But, luckily, spellcheck has sorted it out for me!’
Andy Cook, chief executive of the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity, which supports more than a thousand children and adults with dyslexia each year, said: ‘It means the world to us that we have a mentor who is so closely associated with the charity. and is therefore willing to open up about her personal experience of dyslexia.
‘Hopefully others will also feel inspired to talk about their dyslexia, and to make the most of the gifts dyslexia can bring and to seek support if they are struggling with any challenges . ‘
He explained that dyslexia has a tendency to run through families, adding: ‘Dyslexia has an undoubted tendency to run in families, although sometimes it will skip a generation or be passed on to one sibling but not another. .
‘Many of the children we see at the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity have parents who are also dyslexic, some of whom only realize this when their children have been assessed.
‘For these families, home-schooling was not easy: dyslexic parents attempted to home school their dyslexic children, which was often something that did not go well.’
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