Prince William fights back tears in vulnerable chat about grief

Prince William got emotional while conversing with a woman who lost her baby and husband just days apart.

The royal fought back tears as he sat down with Rhian Mannings, who recalled how her husband, Paul Mannings, died by suicide in 2012 — just five days after their 1-year-old son, George, died of pneumonia.

In a video posted Friday in honor of World Mental Health Day, William asked Rhian what she wishes she could have said to her husband before his death.

“Why didn’t you speak to me? … Why didn’t you come to me?” replied the mother of three, who also shared firstborn Hollie, 17, and second-born Isaac, 16, with Paul.

Rhian recalled Paul being “absolutely devastated” and said he “kept blaming himself” for what happened to their youngest.

“He’s missed out on so much joy, and we would’ve been OK. And I think that’s what the hardest thing is — we would’ve been OK,” she told William, whose eyes welled up with tears as he turned his head away to collect himself.

“Sorry, it’s hard to ask you questions,” he explained as he reached to grab Rhian’s hand, but as she reminded him, “You’ve experienced loss yourself.” (William’s mother, Princess Diana, died in a car accident in 1997 when he was 15.)

“Life can throw you these awful curveballs,” Rhian said, “but by talking about it, by having hope, you can continue.”

The prince agreed, arguing that “the best way to prevent suicide is to talk about it.”

He noted that there’s “still a lot of stigma around suicide,” prompting Rhian to explain that she “had never been touched by suicide” until her husband’s death.

“It was something that happened in the news. Nobody would talk about it or say what happened, and I found that really confusing at the time,” she shared.

William, 43, then asked Rhian if she had any advice to families on how to navigate those conversations.

“I think it’s important never to lie. There’s ways in being truthful and just being gentle. As a parent, you know your children better than anybody else,” she replied, confessing that she still has a lot of unanswered questions.

“I will forever go over those last few days with him wondering what I missed,” she lamented. “Before we lost George, we were just so happy, and I think this shows that it really can happen to anyone.”

Despite life being “up and down,” Rhian marveled that her kids are “flourishing.”

When William, who also has three kids, asked how she’s “managed to bring up [her] children so brilliantly,” her eyes lit up.

“They’ve just grown up to be incredible kids and young adults,” she gushed.

“I look back, and I still don’t really know how we survived it. People ask me that a lot. Like, ‘How’d you do it?’ And I don’t really know. They were so young. The memories they’ve got now are memories that probably I’ve placed into their minds.”

Rhian admitted that she still worries about “what tomorrow’s gonna bring” but tries to remain “rational and think positively,” adding, “I just want my children to be happy.”

At the end of the video, a message flashed across the screen: “The Royal Foundation is uniting charities across the four home nations to transform suicide prevention in the UK through a new National Suicide Prevention Network.”

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.