The Prince of Wales was visibly emotional during a powerful and deeply personal conversation about the impact of suicide, pausing at times as he listened to Rhian Mannings, a widow who lost her husband just days after the death of their one-year-old son.
In a visit to her home in Cardiff, Prince William sat down with Rhian, who has since founded a bereavement charity to support others affected by loss. The meeting was part of the prince’s work to highlight the need for greater mental health support and awareness, particularly around suicide prevention.
To support these efforts, The Royal Foundation has pledged £1 million to help develop a UK-wide National Suicide Prevention Network, aiming to better understand the root causes of suicide and provide vital support to those impacted.
Marking World Mental Health Day, Prince William said he wanted to help “build a bold, unified national response to the heartbreaking and preventable tragedy of suicide.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
In the emotional exchange, captured on camera, Rhian recounted how her husband took his own life just five days after they had experienced the devastating death of their infant son.
The prince gently asked how she managed to keep going and raise their two remaining children.
“I look back and I still don’t know how we survived it,” Rhian said.
William also raised the issue of stigma:
“There’s still a lot of stigma around suicide. Did you feel that at the time?”
“I was quite surprised by it,” she replied. “I’d never been touched by suicide. It was something that happened on the news. No one would talk about it.”
As they spoke in her kitchen, Rhian shared the question that continues to haunt her:
“Why didn’t you speak to me? I ask myself that every single day,” she said. “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 so much joy. And we would have been OK. I think that’s the hardest thing—we would have been OK.”
Prince William appeared deeply moved by her words and, at one point, was too emotional to respond.
