Prince William has described the past year as “brutal” and probably “the hardest year in my life” following his father and wife being diagnosed with cancer.

In a wide-ranging and surprisingly personal interview at the end of his week-long tour of Cape Town, the Prince of Wales was asked how hard the last year has been, answering: “Honestly? It’s been dreadful.

“It’s probably been the hardest year in my life. So, trying to get through everything else and keep everything on track has been really difficult.”

Speaking about how the King and the Princess of Wales have coped, he added: “I’m so proud of my wife, I’m proud of my father, for handling the things that they have done.

“But from a personal family point of view, it’s been, yeah, it’s been brutal.”

It’s the first time he has spoken so openly about the personal impact on him of his father and wife’s illness and treatment.

His answer emphasises just how difficult it has been for him, but in many ways will be seen as an extraordinary statement when you consider the years of upset he endured around the traumatic death of his mother Princess Diana.

Yesterday he praised Kate for being “amazing” and today when asked how she was doing said: “She’s doing well. Doing well.”

Prince says it is ‘very important’ he is ‘helping people’s lives’

During the year, both the King and the princess have taken some time away from public duties, at times putting more pressure on William to step up and go solo on engagements, especially in his new role as heir to the throne.

Asked about how he now feels about the responsibility and also potential freedom that comes with being Prince of Wales, he said: “It’s a tricky one.

“Do I like more responsibility? No. Do I like the freedom that I can build something like Earthshot then yes.”

Read more:
Prince of Wales praises ‘amazing’ Kate

Prince William’s Earthshot Awards celebrate and reward innovators working to combat some of the world’s most pressing environmental issues and have been described as the Oscars of the environmental world.

Elaborating on what that means for his future royal work, he said: “That’s the future for me. It’s very important with my role and my platform, that I’m doing something for good. That I’m helping people’s lives and I’m doing something that is genuinely meaningful.

“So, the Earthshot is a culmination, if you like, of all that put together. But it takes a lot of work, and there’s a lot of unseen stuff that goes on, a lot of meetings, a lot of people coming in, a lot of chatting and phone calls, letters, all trying to sort of make the Earthshot get to being the best possible entity it can be.”

Princess Charlotte in ‘floods of tears’ over prince’s beard

William travelled to Cape Town on Monday for the fourth annual Earthshot Awards.

On his visit it was quickly noticed he was wearing a beaded bracelet saying “Papa” that he was given by Princess Charlotte.

But William admitted she is less keen on another new addition to his appearance, his beard.

Asked about his new facial hair he said: “Well Charlotte didn’t like it the first time. I got floods of tears, the first one, I got a few tears, so I had to shave it off. And then I grew it back. I thought, hang on a second and I convinced her it was going to be okay.”

William frustrated over slow response to his call to action

The prince has seemed in his element throughout the week.

Excited about the “Earthshot movement”, he said he felt “quite emotional” as he sat in the audience for the fourth annual awards ceremony, but he clearly has frustrations some aren’t responding to his call to action quickly enough.

He said: “When you go and approach people and say, like business or whoever, or even government when you approach them, and say, ‘listen, we’re building this incredible thing, please come on board’. Some people are extremely fast and keen to do it.

“Others take a little bit longer and it’s those people who take a little bit longer, I’m like, ‘guys, we just don’t have the time’.

“So, yes, I get a bit frustrated that it takes a long time to convince people that this is worthy of their attention.”

Speaking directly to big corporations, he added: “My message to business really is: hurry up and be courageous. Invest faster because we just don’t have that time.”

‘I couldn’t be less relaxed this year’

Already Earthshot has attracted the likes of Uber and British Airways to commit to supporting some of the start-ups discovered by the annual awards. An investment platform called “Launchpad” also links up innovators with potential investors.

Many of us who follow the prince regularly would say he’s seemed more relaxed throughout the week, clearly buoyed up by the enthusiasm for Earthshot, but he also said it’s partly down to family time.

“It’s interesting you say that, cause I couldn’t be less relaxed this year,” he said. “So it’s very interesting you’re all seeing that. But it’s more a case of just crack on and you’ve got to keep going… I enjoy my work and I enjoy pacing myself and keeping sure that I have got time for my family too.”

Sara Sharif’s father has told a court his “evil and psycho” wife made him slap the 10-year-old girl, and claimed she tied up his daughter with tape.

Taxi driver Urfan Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool and brother Faisal Malik are on trial at the Old Bailey accused of Sara’s murder in August last year.

Sara was found dead in bed at the family’s home in Woking, Surrey, after Sharif called police from Pakistan and said he had beaten her “too much”.

A post-mortem found dozens of injuries, including burns and human bite marks.

Warning: This article contains details readers may find distressing

Speaking in court on Thursday, Sharif claimed he once came home to find Sara with her arms bound behind her back with packaging tape in the television room.

He said Batool appeared “shocked” to see him, and told the court: “I screamed. I was angry, I was annoyed.

“She, Sara, was terrified. She was scared. She didn’t say much. I hugged her, I kissed her, then me and Beinash went into the kitchen.

“She apologised to me and she promised that she wouldn’t do it again.”

Sharif then told the court he had cut his daughter free with a knife from the kitchen and said he was “an idiot” for not calling the police.

The taxi driver then denied Batool’s repeated claims to her sister that he was “beating the crap” out of Sara.

He did however admit to slapping his daughter “multiple times” when his wife told him she was “playing up”.

Sharif claimed “I was made to” slap Sara as Batool “was blaming my daughter”, and added: “I should not have believed her. I never knew I was living with evil and psycho.”

Read more from the trial:
Father claims he ‘jumped through window’ to escape abuse
Sara’s stepmother cries as video shows girl dancing ‘days before murder’
Video shows moment Sara’s family detained on plane

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Sharif then denied hitting Sara with a white pole, biting her or putting a homemade hood over her head.

He said about the bite marks on Sara: “I didn’t do it, Faisal didn’t do it… Who else was at home?”

Defence barrister Naeem Mian KC noted to jurors evidence that only Batool had refused to give her dental impressions to compare with the marks on Sara’s body.

Sharif also said he found out his daughter was wearing a diaper last July from Batool, who said the girl “could not control her bladder” and that it was “normal”.

He denied branding Sara on her bottom with an iron, and told the court he did not see bruises on her body as she wore a hijab, long sleeves and leggings at home. He also claimed he never saw her in pain or unable to move.

On the day of Sara’s death, Sharif said he received a call from Batool telling him to “come home,” to which he said he was “driving not flying” and would be back in 15 to 20 minutes.

He said he was not “burning with anger to get home” and said he had stopped to buy cigarettes or a vape from a Co-op on the way.

Sharif, 42, Batool, 30, and Malik, 29, deny murder and causing or allowing the death of a child between 16 December 2022 and 9 August 2023.

The trial continues.

Three people have been charged in connection with the death of One Direction star Liam Payne in Argentina, the public prosecutor’s office in the country has said.

The 31-year-old pop star died after he fell from a third-floor balcony at the Casa Sur Hotel in Buenos Aires on 16 October.

The three were arrested and charged with “abandonment of a person followed by death, supply and facilitation of narcotics,” said a statement by the office of prosecutor Andres Esteban Madrea.

The statement said “Liam Payne was not fully conscious or was experiencing a state of noticeable decrease or loss of consciousness at the time of the fall”.

It said one of the accused “accompanied the artist on a daily basis” during his stay in the Argentinian capital, while another was a hotel employee.

The prosecutor’s office said it had received several dozen testimonies, analysed more than 800 hours of video from security cameras and public roads, and conducted a “forensic extraction” of the contents of Payne’s phone, allowing for his calls, messages and social media networks to be analysed.

It said the investigation revealed “at least four supplies of narcotics” had been discovered.

The results of toxicology tests revealed in the moments before his death Payne had alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his body, it added.

The statement said Payne “did not adopt a reflex posture to protect himself from the fall” so it can be inferred he may have fallen “in a state of semi or total unconsciousness”.

It said that would “rule out the possibility of a conscious or voluntary act” as “in the state he was in, he did not know what he was doing nor could he understand it”.

Argentine investigators found what appeared to be narcotics and alcohol strewn around broken objects and furniture in Payne‘s hotel room, leading the public prosecution to surmise he had suffered a substance abuse-induced breakdown around the time of his fall.

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Liam Payne: A life in the spotlight
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