It is not easy to lost your loved one on such young age. Prince William support a grieving child during the Royal visit to Child Bereavement UK in Stratford, east London, on Wednesday, Prince William leaned in to speak to a girl named Aoife, 9, to tell her they had something very important in common.
“Do you know what happened to me?” Prince William asked the young girl, Aoife, who lost her father to pancreatic cancer six years ago. “You know I lost my mummy when I was very young too. I was [15] and my brother was 12. So we lost our mummy when we were young as well.”
William was just 15 when he lost his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a tragic car accident in 1997.
“Do you speak about your daddy?” Prince William asked Aoife. “It’s very important to talk about it, very, very important.”
Prince William and Princess Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, showed their support at the charity, which provides support for grieving children and their families.
Aoife said to Prince William about the “memory jars” she made. Memory jars is the project of making memory jars that full of tightly packed colored salts, each color meant to represent a memory about the person they lost. The 9-years-old girl has chosen reds, yellow, pinks and greens for her memory jars, because her father like bright colors and love gardening.
After prince William sharing his and his brother loss is having an impact on others who know that pain, Aoife said, “It was really nice that he talked to me, it was like there are other people who know what it is like to lose someone.”
Aoife’s mother told People. “I couldn’t believe it when he started to talk about his mother. It was very emotional and I was willing myself not to start to cry. I almost did.”.
“I am telling my children that if they take anything away from this day, it is what he said about how important it is to talk. Kids do not forget that. Sometimes it hurts but we can remember the happy things too. It is so important to talk.”
This afternoon The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting a @cbukhelp Centre, as the London centre marks its one year anniversary pic.twitter.com/k0HK73OmnI
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) January 11, 2017
William and Kate’s warmth and openness made the “terror in people eyes” faded away. “You can see that fall away within a few minutes as people realize they are normal. That is always kind of touching to see,” Samuels saids
“Also their depth of understanding of people. It is much more than a line, the surface of what a charity does — they really understand and care about the issues.”
“Bereavement and particularly child death, which is so unbearable to think about, is something William is shining a light. He is helping us raise awareness in a way that no one else can do,” she adds.
“That’s because people can see how authentic, and heartfelt, he is and he’s experienced it. People can pick up authenticity within seconds.”
The Duke and Duchess join a @cbukhelp ‘Memory Jar’ activity in a Support Group session – which helps families dealing with bereavement pic.twitter.com/xg9zWPxfkD
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) January 11, 2017
Earlier in the day, the former Kate Middleton visited London’s Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, which helps children and young people grappling with various mental health issues. While meeting with a group of young mothers who had undergone treatment for issues like abuse and addiction, Kate acknowledged that all mothers struggle, including herself.
“Parenting is tough. And with the history and all the things and experience you’ve all witnessed, to do that on top of your own anxieties, and the lack of support you also received as mothers… I find it extraordinary how you’ve managed actually.”.
Peter Fonagy, chief executive of the Anna Freud Centre, told, “She knew exactly what these mums were talking about, about children not sleeping and how stressful it is to try and bring up small children. All the mums said how much she talked to them as just another mum.”
Kate, who has focused on mental health issues in her royal duties, is using the common experience of motherhood to relate to parents struggling with more than the usual stressors in their parenting.
“She is totally convinced that early intervention is the way to go, that mums need support and help. When you can’t sleep because of a young baby and you’re on your own, it is tough,” said Fonagy.
Every mum has to learn to be a mother, no one knows better, that is the purpose of share the parenting experience, so other mum can learn and pass it to other mum again.
