In July 2024, a young man with a knife attacked adults and children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England. Three children were killed and ten were injured. It devastated the community and the country. Taylor Swift met with some of the families and she gave them VIP tickets to her British concerts last year. King Charles visited Southport soon after the stabbings. Prince William and Kate eventually visited Southport, months later. Well, as it turns out, Will and Kate also donated to a new local playground being built in Southport.
The Prince and Princess of Wales have quietly made a donation to a primary school in Southport to help them fund a new playground in memory of the children killed in a knife attack last July. Prince William and Kate made the emotional pilgrimage to Liverpool last October to meet with the families of the three girls who lost their lives in the attack – in the princess’s first public engagement since completing chemotherapy for cancer.
Alice Aguiar, nine, and Bebe King, six, were killed along with seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. Teenage killer Axel Rudakubana was jailed for life for their deaths – alongside the attempted murder of eight other children – and was handed a minimum term of 52 years in January.
Alice’s parents have since been raising money to build a new playground at Churchtown Primary School, attended by Alice and Bebe. The new space is set to be honour the girls’ memories and provide an expanded space for children to play in.
The donation from the royals was revealed over the weekend by Jinnie Payne, headteacher of Churchtown Primary School. She wrote in a message shared on social media: ‘On behalf of Churchtown Primary School, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to their Royal Highnesses, the Prince and Princess of Wales, for their incredibly generous donation to our Churchtown Playground fund. Their kindness and thoughtfulness mean so much to our whole community as we come together to honour the memories of Alice and Bebe, two much-loved members of our school family. As Alice’s dad Sergio, and I prepare to run the London Marathon today in their memory, we are deeply touched and encouraged by William’s and Kate’s support.’
At first, I thought this was going to be a repeat of the Sarah Everard situation, where Kate and her staff were exploiting a murdered woman for their own PR. But it’s not that – it seems the donation to the playground was genuine and the palace didn’t even brief the Mail about it, it was all Jinnie Payne talking about it. I’m not nitpicking, but I do wonder if the donation came from the Royal Foundation or the Waleses privately. I also wonder what “generous” means in British terms and royal terms. I’m just saying, I’m often astonished by how little money Will and Kate’s foundation actually “gives away.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales speak to members of the emergency services during a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet rescue workers and the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29. Picture date: Thursday October 10, 2024.,Image: 919121397, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Danny Lawson / Avalon
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- The Princess of Wales speaks to members of the emergency services during a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet rescue workers and the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29. Picture date: Thursday October 10, 2024.,Image: 919121582, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Danny Lawson / Avalon
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- The Princess of Wales speaks to members of the emergency services during a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet rescue workers and the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29. Picture date: Thursday October 10, 2024.,Image: 919121606, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Danny Lawson / Avalon
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales speak to members of the emergency services during a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet rescue workers and the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29. Picture date: Thursday October 10, 2024.,Image: 919252435, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Danny Lawson / Avalon
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- The Princess of Wales speaks with members of the emergency services during a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29. Picture date: Thursday October 10, 2024.,Image: 919252475, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Danny Lawson / Avalon
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales speak to members of the emergency services during a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet rescue workers and the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29 Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, William, Prince of Wales Where: Southport, United Kingdom When: 10 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Princess of Wales listens to members of the emergency services during a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet rescue workers and the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29 Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Southport, United Kingdom When: 10 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive for a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29 Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales, William, Prince of Wales Where: Southport, United Kingdom When: 10 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales speaks with a paramedic during a visit to Southport Community Centre to meet rescue workers and the families of those caught up in the Southport knife attack earlier this year. Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the Merseyside town on July 29 Featuring: Catherine, Princess of Wales Where: Southport, United Kingdom When: 10 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I thought I read somewhere that the donations that they do make come from the Royal Foundation not from the direct and greedy pockets of Peg. Still wherever it came from it was a good cause to donate to.
You are on the right track. Not their private funds as they have already said that if they give privately to one it will be expected for all. Foundation money, for sure.
Funding a playground sounds familiar. Good thing to copy though.
Generous in British terms is way way way less than American terms. That being said, British economy is propped up by ‘charity’ so I think this will be seen as a big deal in that society. So this is a Good 👍 move. They need to do a lot more of this and stop focusing on what’s happening in Montecito, California, USA. 🙃
Exactly
They should definitely do more of this and use their vast amounts of money to help communities at grass root levels. I’d respect their fact finding visits much more if financial assistance was being provided to worthy causes. Then at least it would make all the school kid flag waving, photo ops and royal PR worthwhile for people to participate in.
Any news on the donated refrigerator?
According to the archewell tax release, the sussesxes gave $500 for the uvalde playground from archewell. So maybe $501???
They are the world’s most (in)famous beneficiaries of low expectations.
It’s good that they’ve donated but they’re rich enough to fund the entire project.
I don’t know if its private money it’s still the tax payors money. And if it’s from royal foundation, definitely tax payor funded.
I agree with the assessment. Its nice its a quiter donation. Its also pretty much how harry and meg do, like they brought attention to a worthy cause, gave support, received gifts from Ukrainian grandmothers, who wrote their own public HRH letter acknowledging harry and meghan.
The difference is Royals receive money from tax payors, essentially hold it behind their back, another party takes a few bills and hands it back to some tax payors aka charities.
calling money that royals give ‘donations to charity’ and not ‘redirected money from tax payors’ or not equally calling the royals out as ‘primary receivers of charity ‘ is extreme cognitive dissonance from any reporter.
🙌 Well said 👍
It’s wonderful that they donated to a worthy cause.
Pegs is not going to donate any of his money.
It’s nice of them to give back to the public what they take for not working and then rename it a donation.
Surely they have enough money (themselves or through their foundation) to pay for the entire playground to be built ?
Is “generous” five pounds? Doesn’t it just come from the people’s tax money anyway? De-fund these hustlers.
I bet you, it’s not more than £1000, and not out of their own pocket