King Charles to visit families of knife attack victims as he arrives in Southport
The King is meeting with those affected by the attack, as well as emergency staff to thank them for their ongoing support, ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship reports
The families of the three girls who were killed in a knife attack in Southport last month will meet King Charles this week as the Monarch arrives in the grieving town on Tuesday.
The King is interrupting his traditional summer break at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire to travel to Merseyside where the girls died in a knife attack at their summer holiday dance group on July 29.
The youngest, Bebe King, who was just six years old, was laid to rest last weekend. Alice da Silva Aguiar, who was nine, had a funeral a week earlier.
The other young victim was Elsie Dot Stancombe, who was seven years old.
King Charles wants to meet those affected and thank the emergency services for everything they did on the day of the attack and in the disorder and rioting that followed.
He will start his visit at Southport Town Hall, where he will hold a private meeting with some of the severely traumatised families.
The meeting, away from the cameras, will understandably be a very sensitive and emotional moment for all those attending.
It will include some of the children who attended the Taylor Swift dance class that day at the Hart Space Community Centre and survived the knife attack.
It’s also been revealed some of those from that class met their idol, Taylor Swift, at her Wembley concert.
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The King will also thank the emergency services who were first on the scene of the attack.
He will travel to Southport Community Fire Station where Merseyside’s Police, Fire and Rescue and Ambulance services will share their experiences.
They will explain how they responded to the attack and how, just hours later, they faced angry crowds during the riots.
Faith leaders will also be there. The town’s mosque was one of the targets during the public disorder.
The King has been a long time advocate of inter-faith dialogue and understanding.
There will be a moment for King Charles to talk to other members of the community outside the Town Hall on Lord Street.
It is understood that he has wanted to visit the town since the attacks but was mindful of the workload of the emergency services who dealt with the tragedy and then were forced to confront the public disorder and rioting which followed.
Eighteen-year-old Axel Muganwa Rudakubana from Banks, Lancashire has been charged with three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed article in public.
An inquest into the deaths heard that 26 children were at the dance class last month.
Aside from the three young lives that were lost, five other children and two adults were seriously injured.
This is the Talking Royals - our weekly podcast about the royal family, with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Producer Lizzie Robinson