LONDON, United Kingdom — Prince William grew visibly emotional as he spoke with a woman whose husband died by suicide, in a moving video released Friday to mark World Mental Health Day.
The 43-year-old Prince of Wales sat in the kitchen of campaigner Rhian Mannings in Cardiff, Wales, as the two shared a deeply personal conversation about loss and mental health. Mannings’ husband, Paul, died by suicide in 2012, just five days after their one-year-old son George passed away following a seizure.
When William asked what she would have said to her husband, Mannings replied: “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 she spoke, William — who lost his mother, Princess Diana, in a car crash in Paris when he was just 15 — looked down, placed his hand over his mouth, and struggled to hold back tears.
“Are you OK?” Mannings gently asked him.
Reaching out to touch her hand, William apologized softly: “I’m sorry. I just, it’s hard to ask you the questions.”
Mannings, who went on to found the charity 2wish to support families affected by the sudden death of a child, reassured him. “No it’s fine. It’s just you’ve got children. It’s hard and you’ve experienced loss yourself.”
William first met Mannings in 2017 during a mental health campaign he launched with his wife Catherine and his younger brother, Prince Harry.
The poignant footage, released by Kensington Palace, coincided with the launch of a new national suicide prevention network spearheaded by the couple’s philanthropic foundation.
“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,” William told Mannings. “So thank you for talking about it.”
The emotional conversation highlighted William’s continued advocacy for mental health awareness, a cause he has championed for years, emphasizing the power of open conversations in breaking stigma and saving lives.