They sounded exasperated about a two-page spread in one of the papers about the Princess of Wales's eyebrows.

Just her eyebrows. Can you imagine living that life where every part of your appearance is picked apart, and often overshadows what you have to say.

This week it's clear the Princess of Wales and her team want to do everything they can to get past that.

This is her week where she wants to start a national conversation "to revolutionise the way the UK thinks about those early years of a child's life" and "to make this her life's work", a palace source told me.

In cinemas, on billboards, on social media, and from celebrity ambassadors, you'll see campaign material for "Shaping Us".

The research makes the compelling case that as a society we simply don't focus enough on what we can all do - not just parents - to help children in those first five years in life to thrive and become happy healthy adults.

But as Kate was surrounded by cameras and crowds in Kirkgate Market in Leeds, the location for the launch of the campaign, it felt like there was something missing.

This didn't feel like the urgent call to action she wants it to be.

Princess of Wales launches childhood campaign - but faces calls for long-term investment instead

Kate is competing against a lot of noise, and I don't mean just in the market, but in society generally.

At a time when so many families are struggling with the cost of living crisis, when day-to-day worries are centered around heating their homes and feeding their children, this needs to be a campaign that grabs you and I'm not sure that it does at the moment.

She wants us all to wake up to the fact that we can play a part in making sure children don't fall through the net, but how do you make people care when they're struggling enough with their own problems?

In the past few months, I've been on a number of Kate's early years' visits. I've seen firsthand that she undoubtedly cares and she knows her stuff.

During one visit she told an expert to keep sending over the research because she loves the science, the same day she repeatedly kept talking about the importance of communities doing more to support each other.

From toddlers to nursery staff to academics she makes people feel listened to, she wants to find out what is happening on the ground.

And it's not just because she has three children herself.

For over a decade she's been focusing on the links between early childhood and things like addiction, and getting experts in the room to figure out how she can use her platform to have the maximum impact.

"Shaping Us" is her way of showing you what she wants to do as the new Princess of Wales.

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Don't forget she is more constrained than other campaigners; as a royal she can't be seen to be lobbying, even though the provision of childhood services and the cost of childcare are deeply political issues.

But her challenge now is how to get her message to really punch through.

This morning the front pages focused on the red suit she was wearing at a BAFTA event on Monday.

Last week, on the day she met with leading childcare and paediatric experts who'll be helping her with this project, a headline on Twitter read: "Princess Kate's black outfit and glossy blow-dry just turned everyone's head."

As her team would say "societal change doesn't happen overnight" - that also seems to count for the way Kate's work is covered and the media's obsession with how she looks.

But above all else, we keep hearing that the princess wants us to know she's committed to this for the long haul.

For her, this is just the start of a vital conversation with the nation.

Only in the coming months and years will we really see if she can make people stop, listen and act.