Great Britain’s Prince William, whose mother Princess Diana was killed in a car crash when he was 15 years old, offered comfort and solace to Deacon Glover, an eleven-year-old boy whose mother died last year, telling him, “’I know how you feel,” then putting his hand on his shoulder and adding. “It gets easier.”
William and his wife Princess Kate visited the Church on the Street in Burnley, Lancashire, which helps the homeless and those dealing with poverty or drug addiction. When Kate held a three and a half month-old baby girl, William, who has three children with Kate, Prince George, 8, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3, joked, “Don’t give her any ideas,” adding, You can’t take her with you.”
Although Deacon was initially disappointed that his visitor was not a famous soccer star, that changed after William asked him about the Burnley team and noted that his father prince Charles supported the team. William said, “I only found a few years ago that my dad is a Burnley fan.”
The founder of Church on the Street, Pastor Mick Fleming, said the royal couple had witnessed a BBC report on what the organization did and had been moved by it. He stated, “I’m very grateful because hopefully it will mean more people will get to know about what we are doing and more people will get support because of their royal highnesses coming here.”
He added, “We rely on donations and we don’t charge a penny for our services.”
In May 2019, Prince William spoke of losing his mother. According to Fox News, he described his loss as being a “pain like no other pain” during an interview on the BBC special, “A Royal Team Talk: Tackling Mental Health.”
William stated, “I think when you are bereaved at a very young age, anytime really, but particularly at a young age – I can resonate closely to that – you feel a pain like no other pain….And you know that in your life it’s going to be very difficult to come across something that is going to be an even worse pain than that.”
“It also brings you so close to all those other people out there who have been bereaved….So instantly, when you talk to someone else… You can almost see it in their eyes sometimes,” William added.
William also encouraged others to speak out, saying, “There has to be a moment for that… [to] be able to talk about our emotions, because we’re not robots.”
He once recalled, “I was in Balmoral when I was told that my mother had died. Still in shock, I found sanctuary in the service at Crathie Kirk that very morning. And in the dark days of grief that followed, I found comfort and solace in the Scottish outdoors. As a result, the connection I feel to Scotland will forever run deep.”