In an emotional conversation, captured on camera, Rhian Mannings told the prince that her husband had taken his own life, five days after the couple had faced the death of their one-year-old son.
The prince asked her how she had coped and continued to bring up two children.
“I look back and I still don’t know how we survived it,” said Rhian.
“Unfortunately There’s still a lot of stigma around suicide, did you feel that at the time?” asked Prince William.
“I was quite surprised by it. I’d never been touched by suicide. It was something that happened on the news. No one would talk about it,” he was told by Rhian, in a conversation in her kitchen in Cardiff.
Prince William asked her what she would say to her husband.
“‘Why didn’t you speak to me?’ I ask myself that every single day. He was absolutely devastated, he did keep blaming himself,” she said.
“But I would just like to sit him down like this and say ‘Why didn’t you come to me?’ Because he’s missed out on just so much joy. And we would have been ok. I think that’s the hardest thing, we would have been ok.”
The prince seemed too upset to speak.
“Are you ok?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, it’s hard to ask you the questions,” said William.
“You’ve experienced loss yourself,” said Rhian. “Life can throw you these awful curve balls. By talking about it, by having hope, you can continue.”