The Princess of Wales has made a surprise visit with her husband to meet the bereaved families of the Southport stabbing victims.
The unannounced trip to Merseyside was William and Kate’s first joint official outing since the princess’s course of chemotherapy cancer treatment ended in the summer.
The couple privately met the families of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, all fatally stabbed during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on July 29 in Southport, and the children’s dance teacher.
After spending around 90 minutes with the families they walked the short distance to Southport Community Centre where they joined emergency responders involved in the attack to hear about their experiences and meet health practitioners supporting the “blue light” community in Southport.
Kate wore a long brown coat and heels with her hair down and curled and looked serious as she spoke to the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside Peter Oliver who greeted the couple.
The prince and princess spent half an hour with each of the family groups and were 45 minutes late arriving, and William could be heard apologising to the waiting guests.
At the time of the stabbings the prince and princess issued a statement on social media saying: “As parents, we cannot begin to imagine what the families, friends and loved ones of those killed and injured in Southport today are going through.”
It is understood the engagement was planned as a solo visit for William but Kate decided to join her husband in order to show her support, empathy and compassion for the local community.
The princess has been slowly returning to a light programme of public duties following her announcement in a video four weeks ago her course of chemotherapy had ended and her focus would be “doing what I can to stay cancer free”.
Kate was pictured last week hugging aspiring photographer Liz Hatton, 16, who has a rare form of cancer, after the teenager was invited to Windsor Castle by William to take pictures during an investiture ceremony he hosted.
She also made a private visit a few weeks ago to watch the English National Ballet’s matinee show of Giselle at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, and posted on social media about the “moving and inspiring” performance.
William and Kate’s visit follows a similar engagement held by the King in August when he also met the bereaved families and emergency workers.
Following the stabbings, rioting broke out in Southport with the local mosque targeted and a popular convenience shop attacked, with further violence across the country for a number of days.
The disorder included looting with hotels housing asylum seekers also attacked before counter demonstrations appeared to quell the disturbances.
The violence, denounced as “far-right thuggery” by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, was sparked by false claims about the identity of a teenage suspect later charged with three counts of murder.
