Broadcaster Zeinab Badawi has been appointed as a director of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation.

Ms Badawi joins the board of William and Kate’s charitable body and brings a wealth of experience from the media world.

Her appointment, recorded by Companies House, comes as it was announced the duke’s former private secretary Simon Case has formally stood down from his role as a Royal Foundation director.

Mr Case is several weeks into his new post as Cabinet Secretary and head of the Civil Service.

The Royal Foundation has been working in a number of areas from promoting the mental health of the nation to supporting the early years development of children and highlighting conservation issues.

William and Kate recently launched their Royal Foundation Covid-19 response fund, which has granted nearly £1.8 million to 10 leading charities to help a range of projects supporting the mental health of emergency and other frontline line workers during the pandemic.

The duchess held a meeting with Ms Badawi on Tuesday, a rare face-to-face encounter as many royal events are now held by videocall or telephone due to Covid-19.

The Oxford-educated broadcaster was born in the Sudan and her parents moved to the UK when she was two years old – and she has gone on to present the BBC’s Hardtalk and World Debates.

Ms Badawi, a mother of four, is a director of her own production company and sits on a number of boards.

She is chair of the Royal African Society which has William as its royal patron and is a trustee of Historic Royal Palaces and BBC Media Action – the charitable arm of the BBC.