William: I know the pain and trauma has not gone away
Prince’s moving tribute to victims of Manchester Arena bombing
THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge yesterday met relatives of those murdered in the Manchester Arena bomb, with William telling them how his mother Diana’s death meant he related to their grief.
The royal couple went to Manchester city centre to officially open the Glade Of Light memorial to the 22 men, women and children who died in the 2017 terror attack.
After the ceremony, Kate, 40, laid flowers at the halo-shaped shrine and garden. She was wearing beeshaped earrings – a nod to Manchester’s emblem.
William, 39, praised the “extraordinary” city for its response to the atrocity and told how he related to the families’ heartache.
Echoing a lyric by Manchester band Oasis, he added that the proud northern city had refused to “look back in anger” at the attack and had responded to hate with love.
He added: “I remember only too well the shock and grief on the faces of those I met when I visited Manchester in the days following the atrocity. Five years on I know the pain and trauma has not gone away.
“As someone who lives with his own grief I also know what often matters most to the bereaved is that those we have lost are not forgotten.
“There is comfort in remembering, in acknowledging, that while taken horribly soon, they lived. They changed our lives. They were loved, and they are loved.”
Following the ceremony, the royal couple met some of the bereaved families and those involved in the response effort in a private event in Manchester Cathedral.
Waiting outside was seven-yearold Archie McWilliams, from the First Longford Scout Group in Stretford, who had flowers for Kate.
The family of 14-year-old victim
Nell Jones, of
Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, called the memorial “a lovely, quiet, peaceful place”. Nell’s mother Jayne Jones said: “It is so soothing.” Of her grief she said: “I don’t know how you cope with it but you do.”