‘I still have shock in me 20 years on’ –William on Diana’s death

THE Duke of Cambridge has revealed the shock of his mother’s death lives with him to this day as he sympathised with a London Marathon runner who appealed for advice on how to comfort her bereaved children.

William told Rhian Burke, 39, who suffered the double loss of her oneyear-old son and husband within days of each other, that her children would be well looked after as she would “provide the blanket of stability and understanding that they need”.

Speaking about the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, he told her: “I still feel, you know, 20 years later about my mother, I still have shock within me – 20 years later.”

The duke chatted to the mother during the BBC1 documentary Mind Over Marathon, being screened tomorrow evening, that charts the efforts of a group of runners with mental health problems who are training for the London Marathon, which takes place on Sunday.

The group are running for William, Kate and Harry’s Heads Together mental health campaign, which is the London Marathon’s charity and aims to encourage people to speak out about their psychological problems or be sympathetic to those in need.

At a preview screening of the documentary yesterday, the Duke caught up with the runners and in an unscripted speech told them the death of his mother spurred him on to tackle the issue of mental health.

He said: “As you can see, you know, I have my own reasons for being involved in mental health, what happened to me with my mother when I was younger, but equally the charitable work I do at the moment, it all comes back to mental health.”

In the first instalment of a two-part programme, presenter Nick Knowles follows the 10 runners whose problems range from post-traumatic stress disorder to anxiety and depression, but who hope running can help their conditions.