A speech by The Duke of Cambridge at a Child Bereavement Charity fundraising event hosted by 100 Women in Hedge Funds

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen; Thank you Amanda.

As Patron of The Child Bereavement Charity, it is with great pleasure and pride that I welcome you here tonight, in this second year of our partnership with 100 Women in Hedge Funds.

This evening is all about quiet pride. Pride in what both organisations have achieved individually; pride at what you are achieving as partners together.

I find it enormously rewarding and gratifying to observe how two organisations which mean so much to me are working so superbly with one another.

What you are both doing together to alleviate the suffering of children who have lost family members, and bereaved families who have experienced the tragedy of losing a child, is beyond praise.

The Child Bereavement Charity has now directly helped thousands of families.

This past year, it has also trained 5,000 individuals working on the frontline in healthcare, social work and the emergency services. In the course of their professional lives, all of these people are highly likely to benefit first hand from the knowledge and expertise of the Child Bereavement Charity.

This year too, the Charity has brought its compassion and experience to the aid of bereaved military families, whose children suffer so much - in a way, for all of our sakes. I thank you for doing this from the bottom of my heart.

The other half of this great collaboration, 100 Women in Hedge Funds, is ten years old this year. ‘A hundred’ has now grown into 10,000 – I have to say, I’m quite glad you’ve kept the original title: I’m not sure I’d dare turn up to speak to 10,000 women.

We have travelled a long way together since Amanda, Anne and I, literally, bumped into one another during a power cut at the Guildhall. All I can say is that it was a fortuitous fire drill and Anne assures me she didn’t pull out any plugs or smoke under a fire alarm.

On a serious note, though, you have all been wonderfully supportive of this cause, which is so close to our hearts. Please - notwithstanding your great generosity to date – do carry on supporting the Child Bereavement Charity – it needs your help to help others.

Thank you.