Coronavirus: Duchess of Cambridge charity faces 'devastating' loss

The Duchess of Cambridge has been patron of East Anglia's Children's Hospices since 2012

A children's charity supported by the Duchess of Cambridge has warned it faces a "devastating" funding shortfall from the impact of coronavirus.

East Anglia's Children's Hospices (Each) is appealing for £1.8m in income it would otherwise lose in just a 12-week period.

It has suspended many care activities for children and their families.

The duchess, the charity's royal patron, thanked staff for their work in "incredibly tough circumstances".

She said she was "thinking of all the team at Each at this unprecedented and hugely challenging time for you all".

The charity has so far raised more than £200,000 towards its £1.8m target, which it says will plug the gap left by its 43 shops being closed, and its own events and fundraisers' activities being cancelled.

The charity's high-street and online shops typically generate £100,000 a week, said Each.

When the charity found out the funding it would receive from government, it would be able to reforecast its income gap.

"What we are all facing is unprecedented. We know this is a very challenging and uncertain time for everyone, and for EACH the financial impact is overwhelming," said acting chief executive Tracy Rennie.

Catherine met children and parents at the opening of a new hospice in Norfolk in November

Face-to-face counselling, home volunteering service, short breaks, wellbeing therapies, groups and events have all been suspended.

In the wake of the coronavirus lockdown the charity warned "the impact is already being felt by our families".

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Each cares for about 450 families of children and young people with life-threatening conditions in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk, and runs three hospices.

The duchess became its royal patron 2012, and has since opened both the Treehouse hospice in Suffolk and The Nook hospice in Norfolk.