EMOTIONAL SCENES: Kate and William Meet Grieving Families in Southport — And Leave Wearing Friendship Bracelets

During their discussion, Bebe’s mother Lauren King gifted Kate and Prince William friendship bracelets she’d made, which featured her little girl’s name. Both the Prince and Princess were photographed wearing them.

The royal couple’s visit to Alice and Bebe’s school came after they spent around 20 minutes in an ’emotional’ private meeting this morning with the grieving parents of Elsie during a visit to her school, Farnborough Road Infant and Junior School.

Axel Rudakubana, 19, attacked a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on June 29, 2024, where he killed Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, and injured eight other children.

Today, the royal couple made an emotional return to Southport to offer their ongoing support for families affected by the tragic murders, after first visiting the area in October 2024.

In a speech to pupils of Churchtown Primary School, the Prince urged the classmates of Elsie, Bebe and Alice to honour their memories and ‘be brave, be joyful and be kind’.

Looking visibly moved, the heir to the throne praised the way the ‘classmates have come together to support each other and remember the girls in their own way’.

Speaking in the surroundings of an inspirational new playground built at the school, William said: ‘The tragic events that unfolded in this town last year still remain difficult to comprehend.

‘Last year, Alex and Sergio, [Alice’s parents] you told us you wanted to create a special playground in memory of the girls and here we are.

‘This playground is a symbol of how the community have come together to create such a positive space for the pupils of this school – a symbol of remembrance and resilience, a testament that love will always overcome tragedy.

‘Many lives were changed on that terrible day – including countless members of this school community.

‘To the teaching community here at Churchtown Primary and Farnborough Road, where we visited this morning – each and every one of you has gone above and beyond to help heal this incredible group of young people. Thank you.

‘To Alex and Sergio, Lauren and Ben, Jenni and David – you are parents united in grief. You have faced such horror – but from that you move forward with grace and fortitude – creating the most remarkable legacies for your girls. We will always be here to support you.

‘To everyone impacted on that day you will never be forgotten.’

After arriving at Churchtown Primary School this afternoon, Kate, dressed in a smart pink blouse and stylish grey trousers, and William toured the inspirational new commemorative playground that has been created in Alice and Bebe’s honour.

The school and the community of Southport have been on a journey of grief since the attack and are now focused on looking ahead in a hopeful and positive way, sources said.

As a result, the school set up a fundraising appeal for a memorial playground to honour Alice and Bebe.

Surplus funds have been distributed between local charities who have helped recovery efforts in Southport, as well as being split between three charities founded in memory of Alice, Bebe and Elsie – Alice’s WonderDance Foundation, Bebe’s Hive and Elsie’s Story.

Fundraising efforts included Alice and Elsie’s fathers, as well as the school’s headteacher Jinnie Payne, running in the London Marathon. Their Royal Highness privately donated to this appeal.

As well as meeting with Alice and Bebe’s families, who gifted the royal couple Taylor Swift-inspired friendship bracelets in honour of their children, William and Kate spoke to pupils who were affected in the attack last year.

They also had the opportunity to meet with a group of Alice’s classmates to hear about an art project they have been working on to show the progression of their grief and how they are looking towards the future with hope.

The playground has been created to serve as a joyful, healing space for the school’s pupils and includes a stage and new indoor and outdoor library, as well as areas for quiet reflection, a multi games space, climbing frame and bike cycle track for the youngest children.

The couple joined students, teachers and the bereaved parents to celebrate the new playground, with both the Headteacher of Churchtown Primary School and the Prince of Wales delivering short remarks.

A poem was also read out by the headteacher to William, Kate and the children about hope. It was written by a pupil.

A source said William and Kate ‘care deeply for the families and the Southport community, and that’s why they wanted to go back to show their ongoing support’.

After a private meeting with the parents of Alice and Bebe, William and Catherine were taken to the school library to meet some of Alice’s classmates who wanted to show them some of the art therapy they have worked on since last year to help them cope with tragedy. The group are now in Year 6.

The princess asked to see what they’d been doing, their ‘amazing’ art work. She admired a painting of cherry blossom, while William asked if they had cherry blossom there at the school or were they shown a picture.

‘Very good,’ he said. Kate asked: ‘Do you all love drawing and painting? What is it about it, about art, that you like. Very accurate drawings….you’ve taken real care over how you’ve drawn [the wings]’

William asked how many art lesson they have and the teacher explained how the children worked together to create ’emotional journey piece’ and pointed to it on the wall.

‘I noticed that when we came in!’ the princess exclaimed. William added: ‘That’s very cool.’

Kate remarked: ‘It’s extraordinary that, the fact that you’ve been able to put your experiences into this art work together.’

The princess, looking at the artwork, claimed: : ‘Gosh it’s very powerful. I love the details. It’s very clever. You’ve created this totally unique piece of art that speaks to your journeys.

‘And it’s very unusual for young people to be able to express bad, hard and difficult emotions like you’ve done. That you’ve done it through art is a really clever and really expressive way. Has it really helped you?’

William added: ‘Well done you guys. Not only is it really lovely art, but it’s got such strong meaning behind it.’

The prince and princess then joined all 700 pupils and teaching staff plus Alice and Bebe’s parents for an event in the playground, walking in through the children who were singing the song ‘A Million Dreams’ from The Greatest Showman.

Headteacher Jinnie Payne thanked them for coming and for the support they have given.

After the prince’s speech Kate was given a posy of flowers by two pupils – Evelyn Hughes and George Macgregor from Year 6 – who executed a sweet curtsey and bow.

The children finished by performing Proud by Heather Small to the smiling prince and princess.

Speaking afterwards Lauren King described how special the event had been for them.

‘It’s really special. I think we’re really grateful anyway, how Bebe’s been honoured so much in the school. And the fact seeing the Prince and the Princess support that and be here has been… just amazing,’ she said.

Her husband Ben added: ‘Another day of people being incredible and supportive. It’s just amazing, the positive things that are happening through all this. So, yeah, it’s just incredible.’

The spoke of how moving it had been for them to stop at a very special place in Bebe’s memory – a little ‘hive’ – in the playground.

Lauren said: ‘It’s a wigwam that they created and it’s they called it the hive. And it’s it’s got Remember Bebe on it, which is really special. That’s what she used to do in the playground.

‘She used to find little secret spots with her friends and sit under and chat and talk and it’s just really nice that they’ve just honoured those small little moments that…they are small, but they mean so much to us. It was lovely. ‘

Ben said the ‘shocked but happy’ reaction of the children to the royal visitors had been ‘loverly’.

Lauren added: ‘What a gift that is, though, isn’t it? It’s just so nice that the children can experience that and again, it just shows just how great and supportive everybody’s been.’ She said they had been enormously supportive of the people of Southport.

‘They’re just really nice people, aren’t they? Really welcoming and special.’ Ben added: ‘They’re just so easy to talk to. Yeah, it’s a really well welcoming, really warm and. Yes, just really. Yeah. Very special.’

Alex Agia, Alice’s mother, said of the meeting: ‘It is very special having them here to see what we have all done together. To turn a very tragic thing into a positive thing for all of us, our children, and they are happy, they are enjoying it, so it is really nice to have them here.’

Her husband Sergio – who helped raise a lot of funds by running the London Marathon – said: ‘it is so special to hear them support us, as well as the community and the nation. supported that and they’re supporting this as well.’

Alex said William had asked her whether Alice would have been proud of what they had achieved and she told him how her daughter would have been on the playground stage ‘dancing all day’.

‘The children’s faces when they saw the Princes and Princess.Wow, it was amazing to see for the children to have the Royal Family here. They will never forget.’

Following their visit to Churchtown Primary, the Prince and Princess made a private visit to see Leanne Lucas and Heidi Liddle, the two dance teachers who had organised the Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga workshop.

Upon their arrival in the town this morning, William and Kate were greeted by 430 children at the infant school where Elsie had been due to start in Year 3 last Autumn.

Staff and parents, including Elsie’s mother and father Jenni and David, also joined the group, with local sources saying they were ‘deeply touched’ by the visit. There will be further engagements by the couple later this afternoon.

The royal couple were welcomed by Peter Oliver, deputy Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside, June Burns, Mayor of Sefton, Marion Atkinson, leader of Sefton council and its CEO Phillip Porter.

Jennie Sephton, head of the infant school, and Adrian Antell, head of the junior school, then introduced Kate and William to members of the school council – 16 from the junior school and 16 from the infant school.

Inside, William and Kate spoke to teachers about how the school was affected by the tragedy and the support it has provided to pupils, staff and the local community.

They also met privately with Elsie’s parents Jenni and David in the headteacher’s office. Along with Alice’s father Sergio Aguiar, David ran the London Marathon in April in memory of their daughters and the Prince and Princess donated to their fundraising efforts.

The Prince and Princess spent around 20 minutes in an ’emotional’ private meeting with Jenni and David Stancombe, who then introduced them to some of the teachers and teaching assistants who had known Elsie.

Kate was given a posy of pink and white flowers – made by the same florist who created the school’s wreath for the little girl and which contained a silver fabric butterfly, just as the wreath had.

Jennie Sephton said afterwards: ‘I was able to say to the Princess before she left that there’s a butterfly in there and that Elsie was part of the day as well.’

The royal couple had also spent time chatting to Jennie, who is head of the Infants School, and Junior School headteacher Adrian Antell and heard how both had taken part in a skydive to raise funds for Elsie’s story.

‘You went skydivng?!’ asked William, clearly impressed. ‘Oh no! First time for both of you, I take it?’ Asked if he had ever done one, he said: ‘I’ve parachuted, I’ve not skydived. I’ve parachuted into the sea.

‘Would you do it again?’ he asked, laughing when Jennie revealed she had already done so. ‘I could see your eyes there, you’re looking like, ‘oh I quite liked the adrenaline rush’,’ he told her.

The headteachers explained that pupils had paid £5 to Elsie’s Story to break 15 rules and they in turn had pledged to jump out of a plane at 15,000ft if they reached a £15,000 target.

Children from the school council had earlier told the Prince and Princess how they wore ties around their heads, sprayed their hair in different colours and wore pyjamas to school.

‘Well I am very impressed with all of you, all the hard work you’ve done,’ Kate said. ‘What a fantastic thing to learn how to raise money to help other people. Fantastic, so keep up your hard work and thank you.’

William asked another group about their favourite subjects, football teams and food on the school menu.

Children had been told who their VIP visitors would be only 10 minutes before they arrived, having been told they needed to look smart for photographs.

Jennie said of the royal visit, ‘It’s made such a big difference. It was something that Jenni and David wanted them to do right from the beginning.

‘It was around the recognition of what staff have done, how they have supported the family, how they have supported the children going forward.

‘And it’s just real recognition that they value Jenni and David but they have also listened. It’s just so special.’

It is understood that it was important for the Stancombes for the Prince and Princess to visit and they both very much wanted to be there.

Adrian added: ‘I would like to thank the royal couple for coming today and for coming to our school and for coming to Farnborough Road and recognising what we did.

‘They spoke so wonderfully about what this community has done together, and they thanked this community for the work they have done, I think that’s really important we get that out.’

Asked how the school had coped with the tragedy, he said: ‘Every day is different and every child is different. Sadly Elsie didn’t arrive with her class in September, when she should have come.

‘So we’ve had to change support around the class that she’s sadly no longer part of, as well as other children in the school who’ve been impacted by the tragedy.’

Both schools have received extra funding from the local authority to pay for play therapy, counselling and training for staff in trauma approaches.

The school has also received donations, including a new garden created by the Southport Flower Show.

‘Out of a terrible tragedy, people have been kind to us as a school community and have looked after us,’ said Adrian.

‘We knew it wasn’t going to be solved in a year,’ adds Jennie. ‘Children need support and adults will need support for a long time. This is something that’s deeply affected not only our staff, children and families, but the wider community.’

‘Children are missing their friends,’ said Adrian. ‘How do you explain that to an eight-year-old?’

During the visit, Prince William also recommended Child Bereavement UK, of which he is patron, and whose northern lead, Sophie Cartwright, is coincidentally a former pupil of Farnborough Primary School.

Jennie said afterwards: ‘We just couldn’t believe it. I thought, wow, this is just fate, when someone’s there to support you at a time when you’re struggling through.’

William said of CBUK, which was founded by his godmother Julia Samuel and which his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, supported: ‘If you ever need anyone… I think one of them was actually a pupil here.’

On arrival at Farnborough Road in bright sunshine, the royal couple were greeted by loud cheers from pupils waving Union flags.

‘We’ve brought the sunshine with us,’ said the Prince, who asked about the youngsters who had been waiting on the playground. ‘Have they had lunch? They need lunch!’

The couple then split to speak to young members of the school council, which is made up of one pupil from each class in each year.

Kate made a beeline for the younger pupils, crouching down to speak to them, while William chatted to the older children.

‘He talked about what our favourite lessons were and our favourite lunch menus,’ said Jessica Hazelhurst, 10.

‘And he really wanted brownies on the menu. He loves Brownies, so we’re on the same team,’ added Ellis Paynter, also 10.

Speaking after the visit, Adrian said: ‘We talked really about support and how the class had been and so on.

‘But you can see they’re tremendously supportive, because at the end of the day, this is a mum and a dad of children who are very similar age, and every human being has huge empathy for what’s happened in Southport and they’ll be no different than that, but they’re in a position, perhaps, that they can influence and lead and thank people for what they’ve done.’

Jennie added that she had asked for all the pupils to be able to greet the royal visitors when they arrived and departed, saying: ‘We’re about building memories for them and positive memories.’

Earlier this month, the inquiry into the Southport attack heard a statement from Jenni in which she described Elsie as ‘our joy, our pride, our everything’, adding ‘we used to say we had won the lottery, the luckiest parents in the world.’

She described her daughter as a ‘dreamer’ who ‘always had big ideas and the most beautiful imagination’.

At her funeral in August 2024, Elsie’s headteacher Jennifer Sephton described her as ‘such a caring and charismatic young lady who loved to please’.

Alan Bowen, Alice’s favourite teacher at the school, said today: ‘She made a big impression on me.

‘The word that strikes me all of the time is resilience. We have come together as a school and as a community. The class was already close, that loss hit them hard.’

‘The strength they have received from the community gives them the ability to cope with those big feelings. They’ve never hidden or suppressed them and we have given them the opportunity to share them in different ways. They are such resilient children.’

Speaking about how impressed the princess was about how articulate the children had been over big, dark and difficult feelings, he added: ‘It genuinely came from the heart [when they spoke about it]. They loved the artwork and contributed to what went on.

‘It was amazing to know from the very beginning we had the whole support of the nation wrapping their arms around us and to know that people of the calibre of their royal highness were really interested in what were doing, trying to create and bring out that hope and joy for our community for the future means an awful lot to us. To have them here today is exceptional.’

Headteacher Jinnie Payne added: ‘It meant an awful lot for them to come to our school today. To see Their Royal Highnesses on the stage… and see the faces of the children and staff was really a special moment.

‘The children’s smiles, their amazement that Their Royal Highnesses had spent time to come to our school, that’s something we will talk about for a long time. And celebrate that achievement for the children.

‘It’s been tricky navigating the whole journey but what we have done as a school community is talk about things.

‘At times that has felt uncomfortable but that openness and that therapeutic support through art that the princess particularly picked up on has allowed them to talk about their emotions and celebrate their achievements.

‘The prince and princess talked about how many different things there were to do for the children in the playground. The Princess commented on how we had brought the creativity out onto the playground, giving the space for the children to do drawing and colouring outside.’

In their own statement following last year’s attack, William and Kate said: ‘As parents, we cannot begin to imagine what the families, friends and loved ones of those killed and injured in Southport today are going through.’

It is the future king and queen’s second visit to the community, which has showed such immense bravery and solitary following the horrific attack last year.

Following their first in October last year, the Prince and Princess issued a statement, saying: ‘We continue to stand with everyone in Southport.

‘Meeting the community today has been a powerful reminder of the importance of supporting one another in the wake of unimaginable tragedy. You will remain in our thoughts and prayers. ‘

Today they will continue that promise to stand by the community with an extremely poignant visit, their spokesman said.

In 2024, they met with the families of all three girls murdered by knifeman Rudakubana, then aged 17, who was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January.

William and Kate spent time with the bereaved families, along with brave dance teacher Leanne Lucas, who risked her life to protect the girls and was critically injured in the attack.

The couple also met with emergency responders and mental health practitioners who have been working to deliver support to the blue light community, many of whom remain deeply scarred by what they saw on the day.

On Wednesday, the Southport Inquiry heard that Rudakubana could and should have been stopped before launching his murderous attack on children.

Families of the children he stabbed and killed criticised the role of safeguarding services and questioned the part played by Rudakubana’s own parents, the hearing was told.

Warning signs were missed and the killer’s history of disturbing behaviour and violent behaviour not addressed, the inquiry at Liverpool Town Hall heard.

Nicholas Bowen KC, representing all the bereaved families, read a statement from the Stancombe family.

It said: ‘When a parent knows their child is dangerous, allows them to possess weapons and authorities have already visited the home, how is that not neglect?

‘If a child were malnourished or unwashed, social services would act immediately. But when a child is surrounded by weapons, involved in violent behaviour and known to be a threat, the system does nothing.

‘That is a failure. No action was taken. Why? Our daughter paid the price for that failure. When does a parent become complicit in a crime committed by their child?’

The parents of Bebe King, likewise in a statement cited a ‘chain of failures, across systems, across services, across safeguarding.’ It added: ‘There were warnings missed. Red flags ignored. Risks underestimated.’

In January, Axel Rudakubana, 18, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years for carrying out the Southport attacks with a judge admitting he will likely remain in prison until he dies.

Rudakubana was handed 13 sentences including the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children in Southport.

Mr Justice Goose passed his sentence on a day of high drama and emotion as the teenager was twice removed from the dock for interrupting proceedings.