Prince William visibly moved as widow tells of husband’s suicide

The Prince of Wales was visibly moved to learn first-hand about the devastating effects of suicide and had to pause while talking to Ryan Mannings, whose husband took his own life.

Ryan has since founded a bereavement charity, and Prince William's Royal Foundation is giving £1 million to the National Suicide Prevention Network.

The network, which will operate across the UK, will work to better understand the root causes of suicide and offer support to those affected.

Prince William said on World Mental Health Day that he wanted to “shape a bold, united national response to the heartbreaking and preventable tragedy of suicide.”

In an emotional conversation captured on camera, Ryan Mannings told the prince her husband took his own life five days after the couple faced the death of their one-year-old son.

The prince asked her how she coped and continued to raise two children.

“I look back and I still don’t know how we got through it,” Ryan said.

“Unfortunately, suicide is still stigmatized, did you feel that way at the time?” asked Prince William.

“I was very surprised by this. Suicide has never affected me. This was what happened on the news. Nobody talked about it,” Rhian told him in a conversation in her Cardiff kitchen.

Prince William asked her what she would say to her husband.

“Why didn't you talk to me?” I ask myself this every single day. “He was absolutely devastated and continued to blame himself,” she said.

“But I just wish I could sit him down like this and say, 'Why didn't you come to me?' Because he missed out on so much joy. And everything would be ok with us. I think that’s the hardest thing, we would be fine.”

The prince seemed too upset to speak.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Sorry, it’s hard for me to ask you questions,” William said.

“You’ve experienced loss yourself,” Ryan said. “Life can throw you these terrible curve balls. By talking about it, having hope, you can continue.”

Following her devastating loss in 2012, Rhian founded the charity 2wish to help those affected by the sudden or unexpected death of a child or young person.

The charity will be one of 20 organizations to form part of the new National Suicide Prevention Network, which will be launched with £1 million over three years from the Prince and Princess of Wales's Royal Foundation.

The network will be led by Professor Ann John, a suicide prevention expert and public health consultant in Wales.

The King's Fund says preventing suicide is “complex” and there is “no one size fits all model of support”.

But the new network will try to learn more about the causes of suicide, provide support that everyone can access and encourage greater collaboration between different agencies and charities.

Among the network's charities will be the Jack Lewis Foundation in Cardiff, which Prince William visited last month.

This provides a help center located at Cardiff's Principality Stadium that can provide mental health support to the local community.

The charity's chief executive, Elizabeth Thomas-Evans (the Foundation), said: “From the valleys to the towns, suicide has left scars across Wales.”

But she hopes people in need will now be able to come and get help.

Another partner is James' Place, which offers free support to men in suicidal crisis in Liverpool, London and Newcastle.

Chief executive Ellen O'Donoghue said she wanted to “remove some of the barriers men face in accessing support in times of crisis”.