Emotional pregnant Kate Middleton's tears for bereaved mum
The Duchess of Cambridge throws her arms around grieving mum
The story of a mum's grief moved pregnant Kate Middleton to tears during a visit to Norfolk on behalf of a children's charity. Kate welled up as Leigh Smith, 33, gave a speech recalling the heartbreak of losing her daughter Beatrice to a heart condition when she was just 16 weeks old.
"Kate sought me out and gave me a hug just before she left," Leigh said. "I was getting quite teary-eyed, she had tears in her eyes and she just said to me, 'You’re a very brave lady and again, I’m just so, so sorry'."
Before the royal visit, Leigh wrote a letter to the Duchess in the days after her daughter's death, praising the work of East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), of which Kate is royal patron. Kate sent a personal reply back.
"I was so surprised to receive a letter with such personal comments and signed by her," Leigh said. "It was a lovely gesture and helped me through a terrible time.
"When I met her today she remembered the letter and said it was an honour to meet me. I was completely taken aback. For me it was an honour to meet her."
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The charity EACH had made arrangements for Beatrice to be taken to one of its hospices, and helped the couple and their 4-year-old son Elliot with the funeral arrangements. Friday would have been Beatrice’s first birthday.
"I had mixed feelings about today because it’s a difficult time, but this is the most amazing way of celebrating Beatrice’s birthday and I hope she was looking down as I met Kate," she said.
Kate is 18 weeks pregnant with her second child, and looked in good health as she attended the launch of a fundraising campaign for EACH to build a new hospice facility.
Photo: AP
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