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  • Friday, 10 October 2025

William visibly moved as widow tells of husband's suicide

William visibly moved as widow tells of husband's suicide

When he heard first hand about the traumatic effects of suicide, he was compelled to pause during a conversation with Rhian Mannings, whose husband took his own life. Since establishing a bereavement charity, Rhian has established a charity devoted to bereaving, Prince William's Royal Foundation has pledged £1 million to establish a National Suicide Prevention Network. The network, which will be available throughout the United Kingdom, will help you learn more about suicide's root causes and provide assistance to those affected. On World Mental Health Day, Prince William said he wanted to "build a strong, united national response to the heartbreaking and preventable tragedy of suicide.

Rhian Mannings told the prince that her husband had taken his own life five days after the couple's one-year-old son died in an emotional encounter caught on camera. The prince asked her how she had coped and that she had continued to have two children. I look back and I don't know how we survived it, Rhian said.

Unfortunately, Suicide has a lot of stigma around suicide, did you feel that at the time?
asked Prince William.
I was quite surprised by it. I'd never been touched by suicide. It was something that happened on the news. In a talk in her kitchen in Cardiff, Rhian told him that no one would discuss it. Prince William asked her what she would say to her husband.
Why didn't you speak to me? Every single day, I ask myself that. He was completely distraught, but he didn't keep blaming himself,she said.But I would just like to sit down like this and ask, 'Why didn't you come to me?
says the author. 'Since he's missed out on so much joy. And we would have been ok. We may have been fine, but I think that's the hardest thing, because it would have been ok.
The prince seemed too ill to talk. Are you ok? she asked.
I'm sorry, but it's impossible to ask you the questions,
William said. You've experienced loss yourself, said Rhian. "These dreadful curve balls can be thrown at you in life. You will keep learning by discussing it and having hope.

Rhian created 2wish, a charity that helps those who are affected by the sudden or unexpected death of a child or young person. The Prince and Princess of Wales Foundation will be one of 20 charities to establish a National Suicide Prevention Network, which will be funded with £1 million over three years. Professor Ann John, a suicide prevention specialist and consultant in public health medicine in Wales, will chair the network. The Royal Foundation states that preventing suicide is a complex challenge and that there is no "one size fits all scheme of assistance. However, the new network will continue to learn more about suicide's causes, to provide assistance that can be accessed by anyone, and to encourage greater cooperation between different departments and charities.

The Jac Lewis Foundation in Cardiff, which Prince William visited last month, will be one of the charities on the network. That provides a drop-in center, which is located inside Cardiff's Principality Stadium, and can provide mental health services to the local community.

Suicide has engulfed communities throughout Wales, from the valleys to the cities,
the charity's chief executive officer, Elizabeth Thomas-Evans, Foundation said.
But she hoped that people in need would now be able to walk in and get assistance. James' Place, another charity that gives men free assistance in Liverpool, London, and Newcastle, is another partner. Ellen O'Donoghue, the company's chief executive, said she needed to
remove some of the barriers that men encounter when seeking assistance at the point of crisis.

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