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The Prince and Princess of Wales have made their first joint public appearance since Kate finished cancer treatment, as they met the bereaved families of the Southport knife attack.
Kate and William spent 90 minutes chatting privately with the group on Thursday after making an unannounced visit to Southport.
At an undisclosed location, 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, as well as the children’s dance teacher.
After spending 30 minutes with each of the families, they walked the short distance to Southport Community Centre where they joined emergency responders involved in the incident to hear about their experiences, and meet health practitioners supporting the “blue light” community in the town.
Kate and William sat next to each other on a bench in the centre’s gardens for an emotional conversation with the emergency workers.
Referencing their earlier meeting with the families, Kate said: “I can’t underestimate how grateful they all are for the support you provided on the day. On behalf of them, thank you.”
William told the responders: “You’re all heroes. Please make sure you look after yourselves, please take your time, don’t rush back to work.”
Away from the cameras, Kate gave some of the fire, ambulance, police and air ambulance workers a hug, after they struggled to express feelings.
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 that her course of chemotherapy had ended and her focus would be “doing what I can to stay cancer free”.
During their meeting in the community centre garden, Kate said the responders had been supporting people through their “darkest times”.
“For you to witness that, you need support yourselves,” she added and imagined the experience took its toll on them.
One police officer told the couple of suffering anxiety following the attack and being off work. Later Kate rested a hand on William’s back when she joined him to speak to a member of an air ambulance crew.
During the visit, the princess was asked how the bereaved families were coping, and replied: “They’re okay. They’re managing it differently. All the families are so different.
“Individually too they are managing it and processing this tragic event in very different ways, but they’re getting support from families and officers and things like that.”
After the visit, Phil Garrigan, chief fire officer for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, expressed how much the visit meant to his crew.
“The Princess of Wales broke off and came back into the building to give a hug to the people who responded because she could see the emotion in them and could see it was difficult for them to relay their feelings and to say how impactful events have been,” he said. “I think that just shows a really caring side and is very very touching for them.”
