William’s personal tribute to grieving Arena families
THE DUKE of Cambridge has given a deeply personal tribute to the still grieving loved ones of the 22 people murdered in the Manchester Arena terror bombing as the public memorial officially opened in the city.
William said that “as someone who lives with his own grief ” it matters that those we have lost are never forgotten, as he addressed families at the Glade of Light memorial, a short distance from the Manchester Arena.
The Duke called the city an “extraordinary place” which had refused to “look back in anger” but responded to hate with love.
William, who in the morning accompanied his father the Prince of Wales to the Queen’s Speech in Parliament, was accompanied by the Duchess of Cambridge to the ceremony, which comes ahead of the fifth anniversary of the terror attack on May 22, 2017. Many of those killed and injured in the blast came from Yorkshire.
The Royal visitors attended a short service, before William made his brief remarks and walked around the memorial, where the Duchess laid a bouquet of flowers.
Relatives of the 22 who were killed wiped away tears and exchanged hugs as a choir sang Halo by Beyonce, which includes the refrain, ‘I can feel your halo’.
William told the families: “For Catherine and I it is very important that we are with you here today. To remember the 22 lives so brutally taken. To acknowledge the hundreds of lives that were irrevocably changed and to pay tribute to the resilience of this great city.
“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 that the pain and the trauma felt by many has not gone away.
“As someone who lives with his own grief, I also know that what often matters most to the bereaved is that those we have lost are not forgotten.”