Princess Beatrice has overcome a lot in her 33 years - not least a learning difficulty that made her early school days challenging.
The minor royal - daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York - previously revealed that she found reading and spelling difficult.
Beatrice was diagnosed with dyslexia when she was seven years old but chose to see the diagnosis as a blessing rather than a curse.
In fact, the Queen's granddaughter is determined to change the narrative around the condition in the hopes of removing the stigma of dyslexia.
Reminiscing on her early days, the Princess recalled that she had "wished it away", but was able to receive help when navigating through education.
What is dyslexia and what are the early symptoms?
Beatrice previously said: “I remember one of my earliest memories was sitting in front of a Beatrix Potter book and the illustrations were so beautiful, but the words meant nothing."
Beatrice has been patron of the Helen Arkell Dyslexia Charity since 2013 and has developed a ‘toolkit’ of skills to help her to learn better, which she continues to use over the years.
In her foreword to Helen Arkell's Anyone Can Spell It book, she stated that “without HADC’s support my life could have been very different”.
Two years ago, her Royal Highness took part in a promotional video for the charity to further highlight the struggles faced by people living with dyslexia and to provide a space for others to come forward.
"The reason why I am so passionate about dyslexia is because of being a dyslexic person myself," she said at the start of the video.
"I feel like we really have a responsibility to change the narrative around what we are delivering to young people in the classroom."
What is dyslexia?
Dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that mainly causes problems with reading, writing and spelling.
“It's a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing,” explained the NHS.
The national health body added: “Unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn't affected.
“It's estimated up to one in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia.”
Dyslexia symptoms to spot
According to British Dyslexia Association, early signs to spot in your child potentially warning of dyslexia include:
- Difficulty learning nursery rhymes
- Difficulty paying attention, sitting still, listening to stories
- Likes listening to stories but shows no interest in letters or words
- Difficulty learning to sing or recite the alphabet
- A history of slow speech development
- Muddles words
- Difficulty keeping simple rhythm
- Finds it hard to carry out two or more instructions at one time, (eg, put the toys in the box, then put it on the shelf) but is fine if tasks are presented in smaller units
- Forgets names of friends, teacher, colours etc.
- Poor auditory discrimination
- Confusion between directional words eg, up/down
- Family history of dyslexia/reading difficulties
- Difficulty with sequencing e.g., coloured beads, classroom routines
- Substitutes words e.g., "lampshade" for "lamppost"
- Appears not to be listening or paying attention
- Obvious 'good' and 'bad' days for no apparent reason.
There's no known cure for dyslexia as it is a lifelong condition.
However, early detection and evaluation to determine specific needs and appropriate treatment can improve success.
If concerned that your child may be dyslexic, it’s important to discuss it further with a medical professional.
