Kate confirms her return: she appeared Thursday alongside her husband Prince William during a visit to the scene of an attack in England which sparked riots, for the couple’s first public visit since the end of chemotherapy of the Princess of Wales.
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Kate and William went to Southport, a town in the northwest of England where three little girls were killed in July by a teenager, in order to “show their support for the local population,” Kensington Palace said in a statement. press release.
The killings sparked a wave of far-right violence in England and Northern Ireland against immigrants, with the suspect misrepresented on social media as a migrant.
The princely couple first met, away from the cameras, the families of the victims of the three deceased girls, as well as the dance teacher present during the attack, during which eight children and two adults were injured .
The Prince and Princess of Wales then spoke to firefighters, police officers and members of the emergency services, who told them about the experience of the knife attack, and “the impact on their mental health”, said the royal source.
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Dressed in a long brown coat, the Princess of Wales, 42, hugged the members of the rescue teams present, thanking them on behalf of the victims’ families.
“They are grateful for all the support you have given,” she told them, according to comments reported by the PA news agency.
“You are all heroes,” Prince William told them, asking them to “take care” of themselves.
Having worked as a helicopter-ambulance pilot, the mental health of first responders is a “subject close to his heart” to William, Kensington Palace said.
“Can’t wait to get back to work”
On September 9, the princess announced that she had completed her chemotherapy treatment, in a video message published on social networks, specifying that she would resume her royal commitments.
She then explained that she was “looking forward to returning to work and undertaking public activities in the coming months when (she) can”.
A week later, she participated in a working meeting in Windsor on early childhood.
Usually omnipresent on the public stage, Kate suddenly disappeared from the media landscape after Christmas 2023. The palace announced that she had been hospitalized in January for “abdominal surgery”, before the princess published a video message at the end of March to reveal that she had cancer, without specifying its nature.
Since then, his public appearances have been very rare. On June 15, she attended King Charles III’s birthday parade, waving to the crowd from the balcony of Buckingham Palace with the royal family.
And at the beginning of July, she attended the final of the Wimbledon tennis open, where she presented the trophy to the winner of the tournament, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz.
Killed during a dance class
In Southport, the three girls, aged 6, 7 and 9, were killed during a dance class inspired by American pop star Taylor Swift, by a 17-year-old with still unknown motives, who also injured eight other children and two adults.
This attack sparked far-right riots in dozens of cities in England and Northern Ireland.
These racist and Islamophobic riots were fueled by far-right agitators against a backdrop of online rumors concerning the suspect, wrongly presented as a Muslim asylum seeker who arrived by boat.
It is in fact Axel Rudakubana, now an adult, born in Wales into a family originally from Rwanda.
He was charged with murder and attempted murder. He is scheduled to appear at a hearing on October 25.
King Charles III, William’s father, visited Southport in August to meet survivors and their families. He then received the three bereaved families in London.
