The Prince and Princess of Wales Visit Aberfan Memorial Garden
On the second day of their visit to Wales, Prince William and Kate Middleton visited the Aberfan Memorial Garden. The royals were there to pay their respects to those who lost their lives in the 1966 Aberfan disaster.
They left a note that read, "In lasting memory," signed William and Catherine.
In Aberfan to pay our respects to the 116 children and 28 adults who lost their lives on 21 October 1966.
Yma yn Aberfan i dalu teyrnged i’r 116 o blant a 28 oedolyn a gollodd eu bywydau ar Hydref 21 1966. pic.twitter.com/vzNkVEPOoi— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) April 28, 2023
On October 21, 1966, a coal-tip landslide occurred and buried the Pantglas Junior School, killing 116 children and 28 adults. The tragedy is said to be the late Queen Elizabeth's biggest regret, as she waited eight days to visit the community.
"Aberfan affected the Queen very deeply, I think, when she went there. It was one of the few occasions in which she shed tears in public," Sir William Heseltine, a former royal press officer, said in the documentary Elizabeth: Our Queen. "I think she felt in hindsight that she might have gone there a little earlier. It was a sort of lesson for us that you need to show sympathy and to be there on the spot, which I think people craved from her."
She would return to Aberfan many times, including in 1974 to open the Aberfan Memorial Garden, where Prince William and Kate are visiting today.
They were toured around the Memorial by one of the Aberfan survivors and Professor Peter Vaughan, Lord Lieutenant of Mid Glamorgan. Per Kensington Palace, the Prince and Princess also met with trustees from the Aberfan Memorial Trust and some of the "Aberfan Wives," relatives of the children who lost their lives during the disaster.
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