Prince William says past year ‘probably the hardest in my life’ after King and Kate diagnosed with cancer
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.
Prince William and Prince Harry during their mother’s funeral
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
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Princess of Wales: ‘Staying cancer free is now my focus’
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.”
Pic: PA
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.”
Eight men have been arrested by the Metropolitan Police in two unconnected but “significant” terrorism investigations.
In one operation on Saturday, counter-terror officers arrested five men – four of whom are Iranian nationals – as they swooped in on various locations around the country. All are in police custody.
The Met said the arrests related to a “suspected plot to target a specific premises”.
In an update shortly after midnight, the force said: “Officers have been in contact with the affected site to make them aware and provide relevant advice and support, but for operational reasons, we are not able to provide further information at this time.”
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “Counter-terrorism policing, supported by police and colleagues from across the country, have conducted arrests in two really significant operations, both of which have been designed to keep the public safe from threats.
“There are several hundred officers and staff working on this investigation, and we will work very hard to ensure we understand the threats to the wider public.”
He refused to say if the plot was related to Israel, but described it as “certainly significant” and said “it is unusual for us to conduct this scale of activity”.
He also asked the public to “avoid speculation and some of the things that are being posted online”.
MI5 director general Ken McCallum said in October that the intelligence agency had responded to 20 “potentially lethal” Iran-backed plots since 2022. He warned of the risk of an “increase or broadening of Iranian state aggression in the UK”.
Read more: Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran
Children ‘petrified’ by armed police
Rochdale resident Kyle Warren, who witnessed one of the arrests at a neighbouring house, said his children had been playing in the garden when they came running into the house, saying a man in a mask had told them to go inside.
“Obviously, I was a bit worried,” Mr Warren told Sky News’ Lisa Dowd, and so he went into the garden to investigate.
“As we’ve come out, we just heard a massive bang, seen loads of police everywhere with guns, shouting at us to get inside the house.”
Kyle Warren said his children were ‘petrified’
From upstairs in his house, he then heard “loads of shouting in the house” and saw a man being pulled out of the back of the house, “dragged down the side entry and thrown into all the bushes and then handcuffed”.
There were about 20 to 30 officers with guns, he believes.
“It’s just shocking, really. You don’t expect it on your doorstep.”
His daughters were “petrified… I don’t think they’ve ever seen a gun, so to see 20 masked men with guns running round was quite scary for them”.
Mr Warren, who only moved into his house a year ago, said he had “never really seen anyone going in or out” of the house and actually thought it was empty.
One suspect was arrested in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester. Pic: Sarah Cash
One suspect was arrested in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester. Pic: Sarah Cash
Arrests and searches around the country
The Met added officers were carrying out searches at a number of addresses in the Greater Manchester, London and Swindon areas in connection with the investigation.
It said those detained were:
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Swindon area
• A 46-year-old man arrested in west London
• A 29-year-old man arrested in the Stockport area
• A 40-year-old man arrested in the Rochdale area
• A man whose age was not confirmed arrested in the Manchester area.
A 29-year-old man was arrested in the Stockport area
Terror arrests in separate investigation
Police also arrested three further Iranian nationals in London on Saturday as part of another, unrelated counter-terror investigation.
The suspects were detained under section 27 of the National Security Act 2023, which allows police to arrest those suspected of being “involved in foreign power threat activity”.
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Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “These were two major operations that reflect some of the biggest counter state threat and counter terrorism operations that we have seen in recent years.
“This reflects the complexity of the kinds of challenges to our national security that we continue to face.”
Earlier, she thanked police and security services in a statement, and called the incidents “serious events that demonstrate the ongoing requirement to adapt our response to national security threats”.
Last year, the government placed the whole of the Iranian state – including its intelligence services – on the enhanced tier of the new foreign influence registration scheme.
It means anyone asked by Iran to carry out actions for the state must declare it, or face prison time.
UK
Terror arrests came in context of raised warnings about Iran, with ongoing chaos in its own backyard
These are two separate and unrelated investigations by counter-terror officers.
But the common thread is nationality – seven out of the eight people arrested are Iranian.
And that comes in the context of increased warnings from government and the security services about Iranian activity on British soil.
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Counter terror officers raid property
Last year, the director general of MI5, Ken McCallum, said his organisation and police had responded to 20 Iran-backed plots presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents since January 2022.
He linked that increase to the ongoing situation in Iran’s own backyard.
“As events unfold in the Middle East, we will give our fullest attention to the risk of an increase in – or a broadening of – Iranian state aggression in the UK,” he said.
The implication is that even as Iran grapples with a rapidly changing situation in its own region, having seen its proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza, decimated and itself coming under Israeli attack, it may seek avenues further abroad.
The government reiterated this warning only a few weeks ago, with security minister Dan Jarvis addressing parliament.
“The threat from Iran sits in a wider context of the growing, diversifying and evolving threat that the UK faces from malign activity by a number of states,” Jarvis said.
“The threat from states has become increasingly interconnected in nature, blurring the lines between: domestic and international; online and offline; and states and their proxies.
“Turning specifically to Iran, the regime has become increasingly emboldened, asserting itself more aggressively to advance their objectives and undermine ours.”
Read more:
Anybody working for Iran in UK must register or face jail, government announces
As part of that address, Jarvis highlighted the National Security Act 2023, which “criminalises assisting a foreign intelligence service”, among other things.
So it was notable that this was the act used in one of this weekend’s investigations.
The suspects were detained under section 27 of the same act, which allows police to arrest those suspected of being “involved in foreign power threat activity”.
Those powers are apparently being put to use.
UK
Pictured: Boy killed in Gateshead industrial estate fire – 14 children arrested on suspicion of manslaughter
Tributes have been paid to 14-year-old Layton Carr who died in a fire at an industrial estate.
Eleven boys and three girls, aged between 11 and 14 years, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the incident in Gateshead on Friday. They remain in police custody.
Police were alerted to a fire at Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area
Firefighters raced to Fairfield industrial park in the Bill Quay area shortly after 8pm, putting out the blaze a short time later.
Police then issued an appeal for a missing boy, Layton Carr, who was believed to be in the area at the time.
In a statement, the force said that “sadly, following searches, a body believed to be that of 14-year-old Layton Carr was located deceased inside the building”.
Layton’s next of kin have been informed and are being supported by specialist officers, police added.
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Teenager dies in industrial estate fire
A fundraising page on GoFundMe has been set up to help Layton’s mother pay for funeral costs.
Organiser Stephanie Simpson said: “The last thing Georgia needs to stress trying to pay for a funeral for her Boy Any donations will help thank you.”
One tribute in a Facebook post read: “Can’t believe I’m writing this my nephew RIP Layton 💔 forever 14 you’ll be a massive miss, thinking of my sister and 2 beautiful nieces right now.”
Another added: “My boy ❤️ my baby cousin, my Layton. Nothing will ever come close to the pain I feel right now. Forever 14. I’ll miss you sausage.”
A third said: “Rest in peace big lad such a beautiful soul taken far to soon my thoughts are with you Gee stay strong girl hear for u always.”
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Detective Chief Inspector Louise Jenkins, of Northumbria Police, also said: “This is an extremely tragic incident where a boy has sadly lost his life.”
She added that the force’s “thoughts are with Layton’s family as they begin to attempt to process the loss of their loved one”.
They are working to establish “the full circumstances surrounding the incident” and officers will be in the area to “offer reassurance to the public”, she added.
A cordon remains in place at the site while police carry out enquiries.
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