William’s emotional talk about suicide with mother who lost baby son and husband

The Prince of Wales fought back tears as he discussed the devastating impact of suicide and the need for better support for those at risk.

William was filmed in a moving conversation with campaigner Rhian Mannings, whose one-year-old son George died after suffering a seizure in 2012 and whose husband Paul died by suicide five days later.

The footage marked the launch of a new National Suicide Prevention Network, spearheaded by the Prince and Princess of Wales’s Royal Foundation, on World Mental Health Day on Friday.

William travelled to Rhian’s home near Cardiff, south Wales, having first met her eight years ago as part of his, Kate and then-Prince Harry’s Heads Together mental health campaign in 2017.

In a frank discussion between the pair around the kitchen table, the prince said to Rhian, who set up the charity 2wish to support families affected by the sudden death of child: “From the families I’ve spoken to who’ve had to endure suicide, it’s a lot of unanswered questions that live with you forever, really, don’t they?”

She replied: “I will forever go over those last few days with him wondering what I missed. Before we lost George, we were just so happy. And I think this just shows that it really can happen to anyone.”

The prince asked: “If you could say something or wanted to say something to Paul, what would you have said?”

Rhian, 48, who has two older children – Holly, 17, and Isaac, 16, said: “There’s only one thing I would ever say to him if I had time with him and that would be ‘Why didn’t you speak to me?’

“I think, I ask myself that every single day. He was absolutely devastated. He did keep blaming himself that weekend.

“But 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 okay. And I think that’s what the hardest thing is, we would have been okay.”

As he listened to her answer, William looked up and became emotional, and brought his hand to his mouth, as Rhian asked him: “Are you okay?”

He reached out to touch her hand and told her “I’m sorry. I just, it’s hard to ask you the questions”, with the campaigner telling him: “No it’s fine. It’s just you’ve got children. It’s hard and you’ve experienced loss yourself.”

William, whose mother Diana, Princess of Wales died when he was 15, replied: “It’s okay”, before breathing out deeply.

Rhian told him: “Life can throw you these awful curveballs – but by talking about it, by having hope, you can continue.”

William highlighted the importance of speaking about suicide, saying: “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.”

Rhian thanked him in return.

The heir to the throne tucked into Welsh cakes in the family kitchen and later also met George’s older siblings Holly and Isaac, and Rhian’s mother.

He earlier asked Rhian how her children managed to thrive after she told him both children were flourishing, with Isaac playing rugby in the same position as his late father.

“I look back and I still don’t really know how we survived it. People ask me that a lot, like ‘How do you do it?’ And I don’t really know,” she said.

“They were so young. The memories they’ve got now are memories that probably I’ve placed into their minds. I still worry a lot about what tomorrow is going to bring our family.

“But when I’m trying to be rational and trying to think positively, I just want my children to be happy.”

Asked whether she had felt a stigma around suicide at the time, she agreed, adding: “I was quite surprised by it. I’d never been touched by suicide.

“It was something that happened in the news. Nobody would talk about it or actually say what happens, and I found that really confusing at the time.”

William asked what her advice was on how to speak to children about it, with Rhian telling him: “I think it’s important never to lie. There’s ways in being truthful and just being gentle. As a parent, you know your children better than anybody else.”

The National Suicide Prevention Network is aimed at transforming suicide prevention in the UK across the four home nations, and will be boosted by a £1 million investment from William and Kate’s philanthropic foundation.

The initiative is being joined by four charities – James’ Place, PIPS Suicide Prevention Ireland, Mikeysline and the Jac Lewis Foundation, representing England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – as founding partners, alongside the Hub of Hope, the UK’s largest mental health support directory.

It will aim to deliver lasting change in how suicide is understood and improve universal pathways for suicide prevention.

Chaired by Professor Ann John, an expert in the prevention of suicide and self-harm and consultant in public health medicine for Public Health Wales, it will work over the next three years to identify the root causes of suicide, provide accessible support for everyone, and foster greater collaboration, innovation and action.

The prince met Rhian in 2017 for the BBC One documentary Mind Over Marathon which followed a group running for William, Kate and Harry’s Heads Together Mental Health campaign.

At the time, she asked William for advice on how to comfort her two bereaved children, with the royal telling her he still felt the “shock” of his mother’s death many years on.