Featured Image Credit: X/@kensingtonroyal
Topics: Mental Health, Prince William, Royal Family, UK News, Charity
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Mental Health, Prince William, Royal Family, UK News, Charity
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
The Prince of Wales became teary-eyed this week while discussing the gut-wrenching impact of suicide with a widow whose husband took his own life several years ago.
In emotional BBC footage aired earlier today (10 Oct) and shared by the Prince's official X account, 43-year-old William joined Rhian Mannings at her home in Cardiff, Wales. The long-time friends have met a number of times before, following the 2012 suicide of Mannings' husband Paul, who took his own life five days after the couple's one-year-old son George died suddenly from a hidden illness.
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In the years since, the heartbroken mother-of-three has set up a bereavement charity for those who've lost loved ones due to suicide, to which William's Royal Foundation recently contributed £1 million.
Sitting in Mannings' kitchen in a heartbreaking conversation caught on camera, William asked how she'd coped in the years since losing Paul, especially with regards to single-handedly raising her two other children.
"I look back and I still don't know how we survived it," she initially confessed.
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Father-of-two William then noted, 'unfortunately, there's still a lot of stigma around suicide', before asking: "Did you feel that at the time?"
Mannings then replied: "I was quite surprised by it. I'd never been touched by suicide. It was something that happened on the news. No one would talk about it."
After William then enquired what she'd say to Paul if she had the opportunity, she bravely replied: "'Why didn't you speak to me?' I ask myself that every single day. He was absolutely devastated, he did keep blaming himself.
"But I would just like to sit him down like this and say 'Why didn't you come to me?'. Because he's missed out on just so much joy. And we would have been ok.
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"I think that's the hardest thing, we would have been ok."
It was then that William paused, seemingly unable to respond.
"Are you ok?" Mannings then asked him, to which the Prince replied: "I'm sorry, it's hard to ask you the questions."
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The mother-of-three then added of William's own heartache - likely in reference to the passing of his mother, Princess Diana: "You've experienced loss yourself. Life can throw you these awful curve balls. By talking about it, by having hope, you can continue."
William's latest donation was made in a bid to see the company develop a National Suicide Prevention Network, while working to understand more about the root of poor mental health.
Speaking on World Mental Health Day, William vowed to assisting in building 'a bold, unified national response to the heartbreaking and preventable tragedy of suicide'.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.