I know the shock and startling weight of grief
William recalls his Diana pain as he tells New Zealand terror victims...
THE Duke of Cambridge has drawn on the grief he feels for his mother’s death to comfort those who lost loved ones in the Christchurch massacre.
In a moving speech, William, 36, who is on a two-day visit to New Zealand on behalf of the Queen, spoke of how the ‘shock, sadness and pain’ of losing Princess Diana when he was 15 would never leave him.
But he insisted ‘the startling weight of grief’ hadn’t changed him as a person.
Instead, he said, it had revealed depths he didn’t know he had – and encouraged him to go on and lead the best life he could.
The prince was speaking at the Masjid Al Noor mosque in Christchurch, one of two mosques attacked exactly six weeks earlier by a white supremacist who murdered 50 people.
‘I have had reasons myself to reflect on grief and sudden pain and loss in my own life. And in my role, I have often seen up close the sorrow of others in moments of tragedy, as I have today,’ he said. ‘What I have realised is that, of course, grief can change your outlook. You don’t ever forget the shock, the sadness, and the pain. But I do not believe that grief changes who you are. Grief – if you let it – will reveal who you are.
‘It can reveal depths that you did not know you had. The startling weight of grief can burst any bubble of complacency in how you live your life, and help you to live up to the values you espouse.’
William called for reform of social media channels that allow the spread of ‘hateful propaganda’.
Facebook was criticised in the wake of the Christchurch massacre for failing to stop a horrific ‘live stream’ made by the gunman of his deadly attack. A 17-minute video of the killings was on its site for an hour before it was taken down. Referring to the country’s ban on semi-automatic firearms in the wake of the atrocity, the prince said: ‘Just as New Zealand has taken swift action to ban physical tools of violence, we must unite to reform the social technology that allowed hateful propaganda to inspire the murder of innocents.’
William’s address was widely considered to be one of the most impressive he has delivered.
It also shows that the father of three is heading a new generation of royals willing to speak about some of the most painful and personal areas of their lives. The prince, who later visited Linwood mosque, which was also targeted, has close links with New Zealand. He was taken there aged nine months by Charles and Diana in 1983 on his first official tour. Greeting an audience that included survivors and bereaved in both Maori and Arabic, William described his shock at waking up in London to learn of how an ‘act of unspeakable hate had unfolded in a country of peace’. He said: ‘I have been visiting New Zealand since before I could walk. A country that seemed to be bucking global trends of division and anger, looked like maybe it too would fall victim to those intent on promoting fear and distrust.
‘I have no doubt that this is what the terrorist had hoped for. But New Zealanders had other plans. In a moment of acute pain, you stood up and you stood together.’
William praised the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, for her ‘extraordinary leadership’ and the mosque’s imam, Gamal Fouda, whose message of peace in the aftermath of the attack has been hailed as inspirational.
‘You showed the way we must respond to hate – with love,’ the prince said. ‘You showed that an attack designed to divide a society against Muslims only brought us all closer to our Muslim friends.
‘The world has rightly united to fight the extremism that has made sorrowful brethren out of cities like New York, Paris, London, and Manchester and that has taken so many lives in Sri Lanka. Extremism in all its forms must be defeated.’