Kate’s tribute as she recalls walking alone at night in London
Royal visitor touched by outpouring of sorrow mixes unnoticed among crowds gathered in London
THE Duchess of Cambridge last night paid her respects to Sarah Everard, as sources said she remembered “what it felt like to walk around London at night”.
The Duchess paid a private visit to Clapham Common in south London, to lay flowers near the spot where the 33-year-old marketing executive was last seen alive on March 3.
Sources said the Duchess felt Miss Everard’s story had touched a lot of people, and she wanted to show unity with them.
A palace source said: “The Duchess wanted to pay her respects to Sarah and her family. She remembers what it felt like to walk around London at night before she got married.”
A bystander said the Duchess “looked a bit upset and quite emotional” after leaving the makeshift shrine set up at the bandstand on the Common.
The gesture is likely to be compared to the public intervention by the Queen in 2014, when she told a bystander at church that Scots should think “very carefully about the future”, just four days before they cast their votes in the independence referendum.
It could also be seen as a challenge to Boris Johnson to do more to keep women safe amid a national outpouring of concern following the alleged murder of Miss Everard.
The Duchess slipped through the crowds to read tributes left for Miss Everard, a 33-year-old marketing manager who disappeared as she walked home through London and whose body was found in woodland in Kent.
It was a brief moment of reflection, as the Duchess lay daffodils grown in the grounds of Kensington Palace, and she almost went unnoticed.
“She looked quite emotional. We were walking towards the bandstand as she was coming away,” said Rhiannon Pithers, 25, an actuary who lives a street away from where Miss Everard was last seen.
“She was just on her own. About 10 metres behind her there were two people following her. It wasn’t obvious she had security with her.”
The women gathered on the common because of the story of a young woman taken from a busy road as she walked home. It resonated with women around the country, who have found themselves uttering the same five words: “It could have been me.”
After 24 hours which saw plans to hold an official vigil dashed by police, they braved possible fines to pay their respects. People flooded on to the common throughout the day and into the evening.
Women of all ages, many in tears, left bunches of flowers, threading daffodils through the bars so the wind didn’t blow them away.
Signs calling for an end to violence against women were among the candles and cards.
Becky Olley, 30, said she wanted to come and pay tribute to Miss Everard as it was “such a relatable story”. “As people have been saying, she did everything right. It’s really struck a nerve. I just don’t feel safe anywhere.”
The decision to cancel Saturday’s official event came after women MPs, a Church of England bishop and local council leaders urged the Government and police to allow the vigil to go ahead.
Commander Catherine Roper, the Met’s lead for community engagement, said: “We take no joy in this event being cancelled, but it is the right thing to do given the real and present threat of Covid-19.”
‘There is this sense that it is not stopping and our younger sisters are still vulnerable’
For the women who gathered in spite of the ban – observing a minute’s silence at 6pm – another kind of “real and present threat” was of far greater concern.
Lucy Caldicott, a local councillor, said: “The real and present threat of male comments and violence is always, forever.” She said the Met’s decision to cancel was “very disappointing”, adding that while the risk from Covid-19 could have been managed by social distancing “women can’t do anything to get rid of the risk from men”.
“We’d made every arrangement to make it socially distant, safe, it’s in a massive open space,” she said. “As women we wanted to share our grief and our solidarity with the family, and with all other women who are affected by violence at the hands of men.”
Reclaim These Streets said they had made every effort to reach a “positive outcome”, including staggered start times and splitting the event into time slots. They “strongly encouraged” supporters not to gather on Clapham Common, instead holding an online vigil.
But the crowds couldn’t be stopped. At the bandstand, protesters chanted: “Sisters united will never be defeated” and speeches were made by women’s rights campaigners.
As the evening went on, the crowd became angry as police tried to remove protesters from the bandstand.
In time, the atmosphere became more febrile as clashes broke out and several protesters were handcuffed.
The Prime Minister and his fiancée, Carrie Symonds, lit a candle in their garden soon after at 9.30pm. A second candle was placed on the steps of No 10.
Elsewhere around the country, people did the same on their doorsteps to show their solidarity.