Prince William wishes Child Bereavement trustee the ‘best of luck’

The Duke of Cambridge has shared a video message of support for charity Child Bereavement UK.

Prince William, 38, appeared on the charity’s Instagram page in a short message where he wished the ‘best of luck’ to trustee Alexander Fitzgibbons, who is embarking on a journey from London to Stockholm to raise money for the charity today.

The royal, who is patron for the charity, admitted he does a ‘very tough job trying to put bereaved families back together’.

Alexander’s journey will see him kayaking, swimming, running and cycling 2,020 km for the 2020 challenge. 

Wearing a denim shirt and appearing in front of a white panelled wall, William said: ‘Hi Alex, best of luck for your epic challenge. Hope it goes really well.

‘You’re raising money for a fantastic organisation. As patron of Child Bereavement UK I can’t thank you enough for raising money for a brilliant bunch of people.

‘You do a very tough job working with bereaved families and trying to put people’s lives back together, so good luck, and hope it goes really well. 

The video message was shared to the charity’es Instagram account, and quickly racked up 4,500 views and hundreds of comments.

Prince William, 38, appeared on the charity’s Instagram page in a short message where he wished the ‘best of luck’ to trustee Alexander Fitzgibbons, seen, who is embarking on a journey from London to Stockholm to raise money for the charity today

The accompanying caption read: ‘Our Patron The Duke of Cambridge has sent a lovely message of support to our Trustee Alexander Fitzgibbons, who is embarking on an epic journey from London to Stockholm today in aid of Child Bereavement UK. 

‘His challenge will see him kayaking, swimming, running and cycling 2,020+ km. #2020kmchallenge2020’.

Child Bereavement UK supports families and educates professionals, both when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying, and when a child is facing bereavement.

The charity’s vision is for all families to have the support they need to rebuild their lives when a child grieves or when a child dies.

Wearing a denim shirt and appearing in front of a white panelled wall, William said: ‘Hi Alex, best of luck for your epic challenge. Hope it goes really well.

The royal, who is patron for the charity, admitted he does a ‘very tough job trying to put bereaved families back together’.

Last year marked 25 years of helping families to rebuild their lives after the devastation of child bereavement.

Prince William, whose mother Diana, Princess of Wales died when he was 15, became a patron of the royal charity in 2009.

Diana was a keen supporter of Child Bereavement UK and William stressed the importance of its work in a comment on its website.

Last May Prince William took part in BBC documentary, A Royal Team Talk: Tackling Mental Health, and spoke about the impact losing his mother at an early age had. 

During the show, presenter Dan Walker asked the father-of-three about the importance of discussing grief– particularly in light of the death of the princess.

William said: ‘I think when you are bereaved at a very young age… you feel pain like no other pain.And you know that in your life it’s going to be very difficult to come across something that’s going to be an even worse pain than that.’

But, he added optimistically: ‘It also brings you so close to all those other people out there who have been bereaved.’

Prince William, pictured said it was ‘with great pride’ that he stood in front of the guests as patron of the charity and added that ‘Child Bereavement UK is a truly remarkable organisation’ last year at the 25th birthday gala dinner

The charity was founded in September 1994 as The Child Bereavement Trust by Jenni Thomas OBE, rooted in her NHS experience, who worked with the charity for its first 15 years.

The work of the charity was launched and established with Julia Samuel MBE as Founder Patron, at the Royal College of Nursing in the presence of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Each year the charity trains more than 10,000 professionals to help them better understand and meet the needs of grieving families.

Other patrons of Child Bereavement UK include Mary Berry, Gary Barlow, Joey Essex, Alan Titchmarsh and Sir Michael Parkinson.