An emotional Prince of Wales wept as he was reunited with a widow who lost both her baby son and her husband within five days of each other. Prince William, 43, fought back tears as Rhian Mannings recalled how her husband Paul took his own life after their one-year-old son George died from pneumonia.
In a candid video, released on World Mental Health Day, which you can watch above, the father-of-three looked visibly upset as Rhian, 48, told him she wished her husband had been able to open up to her, and that she had been given the chance to reassure him their family would be ok.
“I would just like to sit him down like this and just say ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ Because he’s missed out on just so much joy, and we would have been OK. And I think that’s what the hardest thing is, we would have been OK,” she said. Noticing William’s eyes brimming with tears as he struggled to keep his composure, she asked: “Are you OK?”
“I’m sorry,” William replied, reaching out across the table to touch her hand. “It’s just it’s hard to ask these questions …”
“No, it’s fine. It’s just you’ve got children… It’s hard… And you’ve experienced loss yourself,” Rhian said as the future King paused to take a breath. The pair, who first met in 2017 when Rhian ran the London Marathon for the Royal Foundation’s Heads Together campaign, were reunited as William and Kate announced the launch of a new National Suicide Prevention Network to change how suicide is understood and prevented.
© Kensington Palace“Life can throw you these awful curve balls, but by talking about it by, you know, having hope you can continue,” said Rhian, who who founded her own bereavement charity 2Wish after losing Paul and George in 2012. Chatting over tea and cake in Rhian’s kitchen in Wales the pair discussed the devastating effects of suicide and how she has rebuilt her life with her surviving children Hollie, 17, and Isaac, 16.
“Rhian, how have you managed to bring up your children so brilliantly, as you have? How have they managed to thrive?” William asked.
© Kensington Palace“They’ve just grown up to be incredible kids and young adults,” Rhian replied. “I look back, and I don’t I still don’t really know how we survived it… I still worry a lot about what tomorrow is going to bring our family. But what I’m trying to be rational and trying to think positively. I just want my children to be happy.”
“The best way to prevent suicide is to talk about it. Talk about it early, talk about it with your loved ones, those you trust, your friends. So thank you for talking about it,” added William.
© Kensington PalaceBefore he left, William met Hollie and Isaac and their grandmother, and Rhian packed him a box of Welsh cakes for his journey. As he was driven away, Rhian turned to her mother, Chris Jones, and said: “He’s taken your Tupperware!”
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the Hub of Hope, the UK’s largest mental health support directory: hubofhope.co.uk
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