Prince William visibly moved as widow tells of husband’s suicide

The Prince of Wales was visibly moved when he heard first-hand about the devastating impact of suicide, forcing him to pause during a conversation with Rhian Mannings, whose husband took his own life.

Rhian has since set up a bereavement charity and Prince William’s Royal Foundation is contributing £1 million to the development of the National Suicide Prevention Network.

The network, which will operate across the UK, will work to learn more about the root causes of suicide and offer support to those affected.

On World Mental Health Day, Prince William said he wanted to “build a bold, united national response to the heartbreaking and preventable tragedy of suicide”.

In an emotional speech caught on camera, Rhian Mannings told the prince that her husband took his own life five days after the couple came to terms with the death of their one-year-old son.

The prince asked her how she coped with this situation and continued to raise two children.

“Looking back, I still don’t know how we survived,” Rhian said.

“Unfortunately there is still a lot of stigma around suicide, so have you felt that?” asked Prince William.

“I was quite surprised by it. Suicide never touched me. It was something that was in the news. Nobody would talk about it,” Rhian said in a conversation in her kitchen in Cardiff.

Prince William asked her what she would say to her husband.

“‘Why didn’t you talk to me?’ I ask myself this every day. “He was absolutely devastated and kept blaming himself,” he said.

“But I sit him down like this and say, ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ I would like to say. Because he missed a great joy. And we would be fine. “I think that’s the hardest thing, we would be fine.”

The prince looked too upset to speak.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, it’s so hard to ask you questions,” said William.

“You’ve experienced loss too,” Rhian said. “Life can throw these terrible curveballs at you. You can talk about it, keep hoping.”

Following the terrible loss she suffered in 2012, Rhian set up a charity called 2wish to help those affected by the sudden or unexpected death of a child or young person.

The charity will be one of 20 organizations that will form part of the new National Suicide Prevention Network, launched with £1 million over three years from the Royal Foundation of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

The network will be chaired by Professor Ann John, an expert in suicide prevention and consultant in public health medicine in Wales.

The Royal Foundation says suicide prevention is a “complex challenge” and there is no “one size fits all support model”.

But the new network will seek to learn more about the causes of suicide, provide publicly accessible support and encourage greater collaboration between different organizations and charities.

Charities on the network will include the Jac Lewis Foundation in Cardiff, which Prince William visited last month.

This provides an advice center inside Cardiff’s Principality Stadium that can provide mental health support to the local community.

Chief Executive of the charity Elizabeth Thomas-Evans Foundation said: “Suicide has damaged communities across Wales, from the Valleys to the cities.”

But he hoped people in need could now come in and get help.

Another partner is James’ Place, which offers free support to men in suicide crisis in Liverpool, London and Newcastle.

Chief executive Ellen O’Donoghue said she wanted to “remove some of the barriers men face accessing support at crisis point”.