Prince William reportedly sent a letter to the girlfriend of a Capitol officer who died a day after responding to the violent insurrection during the January 6 riot last year.
The Duke of Cambridge penned a personal note offering his condolences to Sandra Garza, the longtime partner of Brian Sicknick, who died the day after the Capitol riot after having suffered two strokes.
“Please forgive me if I am intruding but I wanted to write and let you know how sorry I am about the death of your partner, Brian,” the future king of England wrote to Ms Garza, who showed the letter’s contents to CNN.
The prince also took space to praise the fallen officer’s “patriotism and selflessness” throughout the “harrowing” attack on the US Capitol.
Ms Garza noted that, while she did receive this personal letter from another country’s diplomatic figure, she did not receive anything of that kind from her own country’s political leader at that time, former US president Donald Trump.
“Trump does not give two craps about law enforcement or Brian and yet Prince William took the time to honour me and Brian,” Ms Garza said, while being interviewed by CNN’s Jake Tapper.
The letter from the Duke of Cambridge, which was dated September 2021 but only recently reached Ms Garza, explained that he felt motivated to reach out to the deceased officer’s partner after viewing a documentary, which included footage from the violent mob descending on the Capitol and attacking officers in their path.
“By all accounts Brian performed valiantly whilst on duty and despite suffering injuries continued to do his utmost to protect those inside,” he wrote. “I was terribly saddened to hear that he passed away the following day and hope that you can take some comfort from knowing that it is thanks to law enforcement officers like Brian that the situation did not escalate further and democracy was upheld.”
The letter from the usually reticent prince was warmly received by Ms Garza, who, after reading its contents, told the CNN host that she believed he was a “a beautiful, wonderful person”.
The letter from a public figure across the Atlantic arrives as the House select committee investigating the events that lead to the violent assault on American democracy on January 6 has wrapped up its third public hearing.
On Thursday afternoon, committee members revealed bombshell testimony regarding a pressure campaign by Donald Trump and law professor John Eastman to get former vice president Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election.
The committee has sought to demonstrate that Mr Trump knew he lost the election, yet nonetheless “oversaw a scheme” to overturn the result “when the vice president refused to go along with it” and that “he [Mr Trump] unleashed a violent mob against Pence at the Capitol”.
