Prince William recalled his grief and told a boy who lost his mother “it gets easier” during a visit to a centre helping vulnerable people.
The Duke of Cambridge, accompanied by his wife Kate spoke to Deacon Glover, 11, whose mother Grace Taylor died last year at the age of 28 after battling drug and mental health problems.
“I know how you feel,” William told Deacon,” putting a hand on his shoulder at one stage and recalling the death of his own mother Princess Diana. “It gets easier.”
He and the Duchess of Cambridge spent around 15 minutes talking to the schoolboy and his great grandmother, Carole Ellis, during a visit to Church on the Street in Burnley, Lancashire, a centre that helps people struggling with poverty, homelessness, addiction or other problems.
The royal couple had asked to visit the centre, housed in a former gym, after watching a BBC television report in December about its work with Burnley’s most vulnerable people in the coronavirus pandemic and finding it “very moving”.
William, 39, chatted to Deacon about football but the youngster, who was wearing a Burnley FC shirt seemed unimpressed at first.
“He thought it was a footballer coming here so he was gutted when he found out it was William and Kate,” one volunteer at the centre said.
But gradually he became chattier, as William asked him about Burnley’s prospects and pointed out that his father Prince Charles had come out as a supporter of the club after directing some of his charities to work in the town. “I only found out a few years ago that my dad is a Burnley fan,” he said.
He told Deacon and his great grandmother that he hoped his own children would follow him in supporting Aston Villa. “I need to spread the love a bit,” he said.
He and Kate went to Burnley after seeing television reporting about the work of Pastor Mick Fleming, a former drug dealer who set up Church on the Street in 2019 to help the homeless and people living in some form of poverty in Burnley and surrounding area.
Since then, the project has grown and the Church, housed in a former gym, now offers refuge and a safe space for anyone struggling, including those with mental health problems.
Funded entirely by donations it provides a food bank, a clothing bank, hot showers, laundry, a café, recovery groups, addiction and mental health support, access to a qualified counsellor, and a safe space for up to 200 people at any one time.
Pastor Mick, who leads charismatic church services, said he hoped the royal visit would help provide extra support for the people using his services.
“They said they’d seen a BBC report on what we were doing and they’d found it very moving.
“I’m very grateful because hopefully it will mean more people will get to know about what we are doing and more people here will get support because of Their Royal Highnesses coming here.
“We rely on donations and we don’t charge a penny for our services.”
The Duke and Duchess spent around an hour and a quarter at the centre, talking to families who have used it while facing crises, and the volunteers and staff who work there.
They posed for pictures with the families taken by relatives and before the end, Kate found herself holding a three and a half month old baby girl for a photo.
She cooed at Anastasia Barrie while standing beside her parents Trudi, a volunteer, and Alastair, who is on the centre’s committee.
William, looking at his wife gazing adoringly at the baby, said: “Don’t give her any ideas,” to laughter. “You can’t take her with you,” he told his wife, smiling.
